Hurt
by TheWindAlchemist
Summary: If you're killed by your best friend, how can you fall in love with them afterward? DeiHinaSaso
1. Chapter 1

It hurt. The way her arms bled with the many cuts he was drawing on her skin. It hurt, the fact that half of the blood in her body was already a pool of red around her. But she wasn't the only one that was hurting. The man who was cutting her, hurting her, had a look of strong regret before dealing the final blow…

-:-

_I'm sorry…_ Deidara looked down at the body on the floor. It was Hinata Hyuga, the one girl he actually came to like. He never thought that he would receive a mission to kill her. What kind of person could ever want someone like Hinata dead?

He saw something float up to the sky. It was as if it were the spirit of Hinata floating up to heaven. She waved slightly to him before disappearing into the sky.

-:-

Hinata waved to him until she couldn't see him anymore. She didn't hate him for what he did. Deidara was one of her closest friends. They could've told each other everything. Maybe she wasn't a good enough friend. Maybe she wasn't so close to him that he would be comfortable saying that he was a mass murderer from the Akatsuki Organization. Maybe they weren't as good a pair of friends as she thought they were.

She shook her head. _I mustn't think like that…_ She saw his face before she died –he looked like he didn't like what he was doing. Maybe his organization wanted him to kill her. He didn't have a choice.

As she entered heaven, she was surprised to see that there was no one at the gates. Staring up at the tall golden gates, she placed a small hand on one of the bars. Then a strong voice began to speak.

_**Hinata. **_

Hinata jumped slightly. "Uh… Y-Yes?" she looked around, trying to find the person who was talking to her.

_**Welcome. I am God. How are you? **_

Hinata felt deeply confused by this, but answered anyway. "Good… H-How are you?" God chuckled a little. _**I'm fine, thank you for asking.**_

There was a short silence. Hinata felt awkward, God was very comfortable. He was used to reactions like these.

_**Before you enter the Holy Gates, would you like to see what's going on with your family? **_God asked. Hinata nodded. _**Okay. You have two hours, and then you have to come back, alright? **_Hinata nodded again.

Soon, she found herself in the middle of the street towards her house. There were lights behind her, and when she turned around, a truck was heading towards her. She braced herself, holding her arms out in front of her, but nothing hit her. The truck drove right past her.

_**Oh, did I forget to tell you that you cannot be hit by solid objects? Silly me, if you're as old as I am, you tend to forget small things like that. Haha…**_

Hinata found it weird that he actually forgot something. But it made sense. He had so much to remember, so it was understandable that he'd forget something like that. Busy, Busy, God.

Shrugging, she began walking down the street towards her house. Slowly walking through the door, she noticed that her father was sitting stressfully on the couch. He had his head in his hands and he seemed to be slightly angry.

"Where is that girl? She should've been home hours ago! It's almost 11!!" his voice was almost panicked, mom at his side the whole time.

Suddenly, Neji burst through the door. "I can't find her. She's not at a friend's house, not at her usual places… nowhere." He panted. "Oh no…" Mom said worriedly.

Hinata moved out of the way as Neji walked to the living room. "We should call the police! Hinata's missing!" he said, plopping down on the couch. "She should've been home by now!" Neji's voice was equally troubled as Hiashi's.

"God…?" Hinata whispered, thinking that if she spoke too loud they'd hear her.

_**Yes, Hinata?**_

"…Is there some way that I can tell them where my body is?" Hinata almost cried at the sight of her family being so troubled over her. _**I'm afraid not. **_Hinata frowned, but walked up the stairs to her room. "Can I take some of my things back with me?" Hinata asked. She smiled when God said yes. _**But only three things. **_

Hinata entered her room. She scanned the shelves, the posters on the walls, and even the floor. She picked up a small doll that she always loved. It was a stuffed dog… deer… bear… they could never really tell. But it was brown, so she called it 'Brownie.' She'd put it beside her when she slept and always took it with her when the family went on vacation.

Her second item was her iPod. She'd take it everywhere, school, walks, even if the trip would only last about ten minutes at the most, and she'd be so busy that she wouldn't even have the time to use it, she'd have her iPod in her pocket.

Her last and final item was a no-brainer. Her small sketchbook. She'd always take that on long trips and to school in case she got an idea to draw something.

She heard a soft crying sound coming from the other room. _Baby Hanabi…_ Hinata hurriedly walked to Hanabi's room, calmly walking through the door. She leaned over the crib and immediately Hanabi's crying stopped. Hanabi looked straight into Hinata's eyes, which surprised her a bit.

"Hi, Hanabi. How've you been?" Hinata gently caressed Hanabi's cheek. She laughed. "I have to go soon, but I'll be back." _I hope…_ Hinata heard the door open. Neji walked in, checking up on Hanabi. "Hey… what's up with you, huh?" he asked, picking Hanabi up and cradling her in his arms. She giggled and tugged at Neji's hair.

Hinata smiled. Neji began to carry Hanabi out of the room, but she began to cry again, reaching out towards Hinata. "Hey, what's all this about?" Neji turned around. He briefly made eye contact with Hinata, but turned around again. "Hanabi, nothing's there." He said, continuing to carry Hanabi down the stairs and to the living room.

So Hanabi wouldn't cause trouble, Hinata followed right behind him. She sat beside Hanabi as Neji sat her down on a small blanket on the floor.

"What are we gonna do? We have to call the police." Hiashi said. Mom nodded. "Okay, I'll go call right now…"

Suddenly, Hanabi began to write something on her blanket with a crayon. Neji was about to grab her off the floor, but Hiashi stopped him.

Hinata guided Hanabi's hand over the blanket. She wrote down the address of the building beside the alley she was murdered in. "I have to go now, Hanabi. But, if you can talk, tell them this is where I was killed, okay?" Hinata got up, making Hanabi start to cry, but she gave her a small peck on the cheek before leaving through the door.

"God, was that against some rule you had about dead people?" Hinata asked. _**No. You're a pretty smart girl, using Hanabi to tell your parents where you were, actually. **_Hinata giggled. "That's cool." She said.

_**Where do you plan on going now?**_

"I… want to see where my killer –no, my best friend is." Hinata said. She closed her eyes for a minute, and when she opened her eyes, she was standing in a dim-lit room. It looked like someone's bedroom, because there was a bed and a side desk and everything. Only the walls were nothing but cold cement, and the door was metal.

There was another door to the side, probably the bathroom. It opened, and a topless, boxer-wearing blonde walked out, a towel over his head. He took it off and let it hang sloppily over the side of the bed. Hinata turned red when she saw him and quickly turned away.

Someone tapped her shoulder. Hinata turned around. No one should be able to tap her shoulder.

"Hey. Who're you and what are you doing here?" Deidara asked angrily, a kunai in his other hand. Hinata backed away a little. "Y-You're not gonna… k-kill me again, are you?" she asked, scared. Deidara looked confused. "Who are you?" he asked again. "H-Hinata… Hyuga. Nice to meet you…?" Hinata was seriously confused. He shouldn't be able to see her.

Deidara reached out to touch her face. It was all bandaged up. "Who took you here?" he asked, walking a little bit closer. Hinata backed away as he did. "Uh… Um… M-Me, in a sense… I did. Kinda… I think… wait…" she stuttered, looking down to the floor. Deidara laughed a little. "You're sill the same as before… when…"

As realization hit him, Hinata backed away a little more. "You're a ghost." Deidara whispered. Hinata nodded. "I was surprised when you tapped my shoulder. You shouldn't be able to do that." It was her turn to laugh a little.

There was a short silence between them, an awkward one at that.

_**Hinata, time to come back.**_

Hinata nodded. "Deidara… you were my closest friend at school." Deidara looked up to her. "I forgive you for killing me." Hinata smiled, backing out through the wall. On reflex, Deidara followed her, but slammed against the wall instead. He quickly ran to open the door, but she was already gone.

-:-

"God, will I be able to come back to visit sometime?" Hinata asked. _**Sure. Just close your eyes and concentrate on where you want to go. But not now, though. After your funeral on earth.**_

Hinata looked back at Deidara as she floated up to the air. He was still in his boxers, she realized. He looked so confused, somewhat angry, yet it felt like he was happy. Hinata smiled. She'll be able to see him again, just not now.

As Hinata waited in line (she was about 4th or 5th) she thought about how her room might look. Was heaven all she heard about from teachers, adults, and priests? When her turn came up, she immediately tensed up.

"_**Please calm down, Hinata. This won't take very long.**_" A person sitting at a podium said. Hinata looked up. "St. Peter…" she whispered. "_**Yes. Hinata, you've been a very good person thus far in your life. You were a good child till the very end. Your parents are very proud of you, and even though your brother never showed it, he loved you very much.**_" St. Peter paused, glanced at Hinata, then continued. "_**Congratulations, welcome to heaven. May you rest in peace.**_"

Hinata smiled. "Th-Thank…you..." She said, walking slowly through the gates. When she entered, she found herself in a room with two beds, a table, and a shelf with every manga Hinata had ever heard of. In a corner, she saw someone with red hair sitting on a bean bag chair, reading. He looked up and stared at her.

"Hi." He said, turning back to the book. "Hello… I-I'm Hinata Hyuga." Hinata walked over and sat in front of him, staring at him top to bottom. The red-head closed the book and smiled at her. "I'm Sasori. How're you?" Hinata turned a bit red. He had a great smile…

"I-I'm… fine. I guess. You?" Sasori's smile grew wider. "Great. Nice to meetcha."

Now that you mention it (which I didn't), Hinata thought that Sasori looked a little familiar. She continued to stare at Sasori, who just continued to smile. Then sudden realization caused her to draw back a little.

"You're that Akatsuki that was killed yesterday!" Hinata gasped. "What are you doing here!?" She asked. Sasori looked hurt for a second. "Hinata, I don't kill anymore. I asked for forgiveness, and I was let in." he said. Hinata calmed down a bit. "Okay… I-I'm sorry." She said.

There was an awkward silence between them.

Sasori stood up and returned the book to the shelf. "So, what brings you here to heaven, huh?" he asked, turning to Hinata. She turned red for a second. "U-Um…! I-I was… killed… by a friend of mine…" She had a sad look on her face. "What friend kills a friend as pretty as you are?" Sasori asked. Hinata looked down to the floor. "His name was Deidara. He was my best friend at school…"

Sasori stared at her with an unreadable look. "I know Deidara." He said. Hinata looked up at him. "You do?" she asked. "I was his partner before I died. Good guy. I bet he hates himself for killing you like he did." Sasori pulled Hinata to her feet. "Hm…" he pulled her into a hug. "Let's be friends, okay?"

Hinata started to cry. "Why are you crying?" Sasori laughed a little. "i-It's just that… I-I'm so… so confused on how to feel right now. I feel happy, sad, mad, and…" her words were mixed up in her constant sobbing. Sasori smiled. "Okay." They stayed like that for a few minutes before she stopped.

"Thanks." She said, wiping her face. "No problem."

-:-

Neji was a total wreck. He had heard that Hinata was killed, and that the killer was Deidara. He was angry, too. Angry that Deidara would do such a thing. Angry that he ran away afterwards. Angry that he got away with it.

Angry that he let him get away with it.

He was writing a paper for school. It wasn't like he was getting anywhere. The prompt was 'The happiest moment of your life'. What perfect timing. Maybe he'd just quit for today. It was getting late, and everyone else in the house was asleep already.

"Ah…" Neji moved his hand away from the papers on his desk. There was a small cut on his finger, a paper cut. But there was something strange. It felt… good. The cut felt good. He picked at the cut and more blood came out. _More. _He poked it with a compass, more blood coming out.

He quickly stopped himself. He was making the cut worse, he realized. Looking down at the wound, he decided to put a bandaid on it. He quickly came back after patching up the cut. He sat on the edge of his bed and put his head in his hands. "I'm depressed." He said to himself.

Technically speaking, he just cut himself. The signs were clear. He enjoyed the pain he was feeling. He was depressed. _No point denying it. _Neji took a pair of scissors and ran the blades over his wrist. Blood seeped through the cut. He crossed the blade over that one. Then another. Then another. Then another.

No.

Neji stopped himself again. Hinata wouldn't want him to cut himself. _Just one more…_ Yeah. One more couldn't hurt, right? The other five didn't, so what would one more do? Neji slid the blade over one lonely slit in his wrist, giving him three X's on his wrist. How organized.

"Okay, that's it." Neji went to the bathroom, took out a handful of bandages, and carefully placed them over the cuts. "Done. No more." When he got back to the room, he saw the scissors on his desk. They seemed to be taunting him. He threw the pair across the room and lied down on the bed. _No more._

-:-

Cutting yourself is a serious problem. If you're depressed, tell someone you truly trust, and if they're worth trusting in the first place, they'll know what to do.

Hey, I'll be working on this laptop-born story until my desktop computer is up an' running. Yeah...


	2. Chapter 2

"Sasori… have you ever thought about the people who would miss you when you die?" Hinata asked from her bed. Even though it was heaven, she still felt the need to sleep. "People wouldn't miss me, so I don't worry about it." Sasori answered. He was lying on his own bed, staring at the ceiling. "Well… what about the people at Akatsuki? Wouldn't they miss you?" Hinata pulled the covers up to her chin. "No. I don't think anyone misses me there either." Sasori shifted to his side. "What about your family? Friends?" he shook his head. "Nope." 

Hinata huffed. "How about Deidara? Wouldn't he miss you?" she asked. Sasori paused for a moment. "Maybe. But I bet he misses you more than me." So negative. Hinata sighed. "But that doesn't change the fact that he misses you, right?" she said. Sasori stayed silent. 

"Good night." He said. 

At her funeral, Neji stayed in the bathroom the whole time. He literally couldn't take it. So staying in the bathroom, hogging the stall at the very end, was the only thing he could think of. What he really wanted was to sort out his thoughts, but the only thing he was throwing at himself was _Quit being so moody and get your ass back out there! _And things like, _Hinata would've come to your funeral if you died! Why can't you do the same thing!? _Now of all times, his inner thoughts decided to be a bitch. 

Finally, Neji walked out of the stall. He went over to the sink and washed his hands and face. It wasn't until he looked into the mirror that he realized that he was crying. He slammed his fist onto the counter and cursed. Then he leaned on the counter, forgetting to turn off the sink. Though, the water that poured out was nothing compared to how much he was crying just then. 

He never realized that he stayed in there for almost half an hour. He never realized that his father had come to get him five minutes ago, and was currently trying to talk to him. He never realized until Hiashi finally gave him a hard punch to the face. "Talk to me!" Hiashi yelled. Neji wiped his face, ignoring his sore cheek. "Sorry…" he muttered, leaning against the wall. "What happened to you? You need to sit out there with me and your mother. Come on." Hiashi grabbed his arm, but he wouldn't budge. 

"Dad I… I don't think I can…" Neji murmured, a blank look on his face. "What do you mean? You're a man! You can take anything!" Hiashi encouraged. "No… I've been to a funeral before but… not this kind…" Neji moved his hand away from Hiashi's. "Oh. Well I can't just let you spend your sister's funeral in a bathroom, now can I?" Hiashi gave him a small smile. He pulled Neji into a quick 'Man-Hug' (as he called it), and convinced Neji to come back to the church. "Thanks, Dad." 

Hiashi patted his back. "No problem." He said. He didn't see Neji's bandaged wrist.

Hinata woke up only to find that she had missed her own funeral. It was kinda random, though, God just out and telling you '_**You missed your funeral, Hinata.**_' But maybe she was meant to miss her funeral. It's not like she could take seeing all those people crying for her sake. 

_But I so wanted to see what they dressed me up in…_ Hinata walked over towards the bathroom, washing her face and looking up to the mirror. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw what she was wearing. It was a white dress, long sleeved and a collar that covered most of her neck. Hinata wrapped her hand around her neck. _It was full of cuts anyway._ She thought to herself. Then she noticed that all the cuts and bruises on her skin were bandaged. _Why aren't they _

_completely healed yet?_ She wasn't really demanding that they be healed, but it was heaven. She expected the cuts and bruises to be gone. 

"Oh well… the dress is nice, though." Hinata walked out of the bathroom, seeing that Sasori was eating at the table. "Morning." Hinata smiled at him. "Morni…" Sasori gawked at her as she sat down across from him at the table. "Is something wrong?" Hinata asked when she noticed Sasori's stare. He shook his head. "You look… beautiful today… Hinata." He said, a smile growing on his face. Hinata turned red. "Ah… Th-Thanks, Sasori. Hehehe…" 

Sasori's smile grew wider. "Where'd you get the dress?" he asked. "I think… they buried me in these clothes. I don't know." Hinata smiled. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Sasori stood up and stretched. "So, what do you plan on doing today, Hinata?" he asked. Hinata paused. "Well… I don't really know. Maybe I'll go see my family again. How about you?" she asked, her smile seeming to shine brighter. "I'll just be here waiting for your return." Sasori said. "Oh… Okay, I'll try not to take too long then." With that, Hinata closed her eyes and disappeared. 

Sasori's smile faded. Late in the night (in Heaven) he visited earth and saw Neji. He had a bandage on his wrist, and Sasori already knew where it came from. Sighing, he sat on the couch and literally just waited. 

Hinata entered politely through the door, glancing in the living room and then in the kitchen across from it. Nobody. She looked at the clock and realized that it was actually late at night. _Everybody must be sleeping then…_That explained why it was so dark. She laughed at her being oblivious to that fact. 

She walked up the stairs and entered the first room: Hanabi's. Immediately the little baby responded by giggling and waving her arms in the air. Hinata smiled as she gently rubbed Hanabi's head. "Hi, I'm back." She whispered. Hanabi wrapped her fingers around Hinata's index finger, gripping it tightly. Hinata laughed a little. 

The door creaked open, Neji walking in. "Noisy little…" he muttered, sounding sleepily annoyed. He looked wide awake to her, though. Neji walked over to Hanabi and gave her a confused look when it looked like she was holding something. He pulled over a chair and sat in it, leaning against the edge of the crib. "What's up…?" he asked. 

Hinata's attention wasn't at Neji and his talking to Hanabi. It was to his wrist, which had numerous amounts of cuts and bruises. She was horrified, to say the least. "Neji…" Randomly, she just grabbed his hand and pulled him up, examining his wrist more carefully. _He's… He's been cutting himself! _Hinata looked up at his confused face, a few tears welling up in her eyes. "Why?" she whispered, even though he couldn't hear her. 

Neji stayed still. His arm was raised in the air and it wasn't his doing, and he felt a shiver run down his spine. Hanabi started patting her hand against the crib wall, catching both her older siblings' attention. "H… Hi…Hina…" She tried saying. Neji's eyes widened. "Hinata?" he finished. Hanabi nodded. Part of him felt happy to finally be in contact with his deceased sister. The other half was ashamed that she had seen him in such a sad state. 

Hinata started crying. "N-Neji..." she sobbed. 

Neji held his breath to listen, to concentrate. He focused on every small sound he heard until one of them sounded like Hinata. Now he could hear her a little more clearly. 

"Neji… y-you… cut yourself…" Hinata stared at the cuts on his arm, wiping the tears from her eyes. Suddenly, he felt a small pressure on his body. She was hugging him. "You Idiot!" she yelled. Hesitantly, Neji wrapped his arms around the air until he felt Hinata. When he was sure it was her, he hugged tightly, and sighed contently when he felt Hinata's body. 

He began to silently cry. "I… I miss you…" he said. He cried a little more when he could no longer feel her presence in his arms, and when he felt a little colder than before. 

Hinata stood at the doorway to Hanabi's room, crying as loud as she could, in case Neji could hear her still. But he was unresponsive to her loud shouts as he dropped to his knees and cried. 

Slowly, she backed away until she was in the middle of the hallway. Quickly she wiped the tears from her eyes and walked towards her parents' room. 

Hiashi sat up in bed when she entered the room. He looked around curiously, then sighed, lying back onto the bed. "What happened?" Mom asked, holding Hiashi's hand. "Something woke me up." He muttered, turning a little more to face her. "Maybe Hinata's watching over us." Mom closed her eyes and scooted closer to Hiashi. "Hm." 

Hinata smiled. Mom was always the believer of spirits and ghosts. So she walked up to her side of the bed and whispered, "Neji's crying in Hanabi's room." 

Just then, Mom sat up in bed herself. "Neji's crying." She said. "What?" Hiashi asked. "How do you know?" Mom glanced at him before standing up. "Hinata told me." She slipped on a robe to keep herself warm and walked out, towards Hanabi's room. Hiashi soon followed. 

"Neji?" Mom walked into Hanabi's room and saw Neji on the floor. "Neji!" both parents ran towards their eldest son and wrapped their arms around him. "Shh… Neji, dear, it's alright. It's alright…" 

Hinata started telling them about the cuts on his wrist, but she knew they didn't hear her. Again, the adults failed to notice Neji's cuts. 

It wasn't until she made sure that Neji was back in bed and comfortable that Hinata decided to go visit Deidara again. 

When she arrived in his room, she felt disappointed that he wasn't there. Determined to find him, she stared walking through the Akatsuki base, ignoring the screaming, curses, and banging sounds coming from each room. She stopped when she saw a familiar face walking down the hall. It was none other than Itachi Uchiha, the one she used to call 'older brother' when Neji wasn't around. 

Remembering that she could pass through solid objects, she boldly walked down the narrow hallways, walking right through Itachi. At first it seemed that he didn't notice, but Hinata turned red in embarrassment when she heard, 

"It's rude to walk through people, Hinata." 

Hinata froze. _He noticed.._. when he was gone, she relaxed and continued on her way down the halls. 

Only an hour passed before she deemed herself pissed off and annoyed at how large the building was to house only ten people. She gave up and went outside, deciding to just look for him there. 

She made it to only one fourth of a mile down the trail before she found Deidara, dressed in formal attire, walking towards the base. He smiled when he saw her, panting and all flustered and half-glaring at him. "Where were you?" She asked. Deidara shrugged. "Believe it or not, I'm just coming home from your funeral." He said. "You were there?" Hinata looked at him with an unreadable look. 

"Yup. It was harder than it looked, too. I mean, everybody knew I did it, and I had to disguise myself and everything. It was especially awkward sitting behind your brother during the Mass." Deidara continued walking, nodding to her to come along. She did, 

"So what did you do?" Hinata asked, interested. "I just dyed my hair a different color. No big deal." Deidara laughed a bit. They stayed silent most of the way back. It wasn't until they reached the base did Deidara decide to start a conversation again. "Uh… That dress looks nice on you." He said awkwardly. Unfortunately, he said that while the other Akatsukis were gathered in the living room, Deidara the only one able to see Hinata. 

"What was that?" Pein asked angrily. "Uh! I-I mean… that… cloak looks… nice on… I'm going to my room."Deidara muttered, stomping up the stairs and slamming the door to his room. 

Hinata laughed when the door closed. She sat on the bed and clutched her stomach. Deidara threw a pillow at her and grimaced when it flew right through her. "Quit laughing!" he yelled, more at Hinata than the roaring crowd downstairs. "I-I'm sorry! That was just so… so funny!" Hinata lied down on the bed. Deidara continued changing into pajamas and sat on the bed, stopping Hinata as she rolled towards him. Her laughter died down and she ended with a long sigh. "I wish you killed me by tickling me to death… I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!" Hinata rolled to her back, making Deidara's hand slide to her stomach. 

He turned red and quickly withdrew his hand. "It wasn't that funny." He grumbled, closing his eyes. Right then, he felt that he was falling for her. Shaking his head, he got up, pulled Hinata off of his bed, and crawled in to sleep. "Deidara?" Hinata started. "What? You wanna sleep with me?" Deidara held up the blanket, inviting her to lie down. She did. 

"This is very weird." Hinata giggled. "Hm." Deidara grunted. He was trying to hold a semi-grudge against her for laughing at him, but found that he couldn't. Hinata stayed silent for a few minutes, cuddling a little closer to Deidara. He turned redder than before. "H-Hey, what's all this?" he asked. "I might not be able to visit as often as I had planned, so I'm just taking in the moment. Just a little longer, okay?" Hinata hugged his arm. Deidara stiffened. It was cold and warm at the same time. 

Hinata was about to accidentally fall asleep, but she remembered something. 

"Deidara?" he gave a small grunt to show that he was listening. "Do you miss Sasori?" she asked. "…Yeah. Kinda." Deidara turned pink at the question. "Why?" he asked. "I was talking to him last night. I was just making sure." Hinata smiled. "Oh… okay." Without warning, she just disappeared, making Deidara realize that the cold feeling was from the blankets. 

When Hinata returned back to heaven, she found Sasori lying on the couch. He had fallen asleep. Smiling, she grabbed the blankets from their beds and wrapped one around him, and the other around herself. She sat at Sasori's head, moving it so that it was in her lap. Then she leaned back and fell asleep. 

Sasori woke up and saw Hinata. She was sleeping. _When did she come back?_ He moved his arm and found that it was covered in blanket. In fact, all of him except for the head was generally wrapped in warm white sheets. He leaned up and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. Hinata slowly opened her eyes at the contact, turning red when she realized how close Sasori was to her face. "You never told me you were a light sleeper." He whispered in her ear, smirking at her blush turning darker. 

"Sasori…?" Hinata tried backing off a little, but Sasori was holding her down. "I love you." He said smoothly. "E-Eh!?" Hinata couldn't help it. She fainted. 

Only a few minutes passed before she regained consciousness. Sasori was now sitting on the floor beside her on the couch. He noticed that she woke up and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know you fainted so easily…" Hinata sat up, rubbing her head. "I-It's okay… I-I don't mind…" Sasori smiled. "No, really. I just wanted to see how you'd react." He said. "So… y-you don't actually…" Hinata trailed off. Nodding, he said, "Nope. I love you, just not in that way." Hinata sighed, smiling.

"I'm hurt, you look happy that I don't love you." Sasori said playfully. "Oh! I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean anything by it, really! I'm sorry!" Hinata waved her hands in the air, almost defending herself. "I'm kidding, no need to get so worked up." Sasori laughed, rubbing Hinata's head thoughtfully. "O-Okay…" _Then why did he kiss me on the cheek?_

Hinata stood up and stretched. "What time is it?" She asked, yawning. "Almost morning. Why?" Sasori walked over to the kitchen and got some already-prepared coffee. "I have absolutely nothing planned today!" Hinata giggled and twirled around in her new dress. "Really? Usually you'd go to earth and see your family again. What's the deal?" Sasori asked. "You!" Hinata took his confused look as a hint to explain. 

"We never really got to know you when we first met. So, I'm spending the whole day with you!" Hinata put his coffee on the table and began dancing with him. "I've never really talked to you since we met." The two of them stopped, Hinata resting her head on his shoulder. "Well, why don't we go on an all-day-date?" Sasori offered, squeezing her lightly. "That sounds awesome, but where would we go? I've only seen this place as heaven." 

Silently, Sasori pulled Hinata towards the door (the one where they first entered heaven) and walked out, planning to hold her hand the whole way. Hinata gasped at the sight. There was a whole neighborhood before her. All the houses were considerably big, even their own. Their neighbors were all inside apparently, because Hinata saw nobody else outside. She felt a pull on her arm. Sasori wanted to go somewhere. 

"H-How did you know this was here?" Hinata asked excitedly, looking at every angle she could see. Sasori gently squeezed her hand. "What do you think I did when you were gone? I went out, of course!" he grinned. Hinata ran towards the park, where a swing set was set up. Squealing slightly, she excitedly skipped towards the swings, immediately going back and forth. Sasori sat in the swing beside her and watched. 

Hinata laughed heartily as she slowed to a stop. "That was so fun!" she jumped off the swings and onto the slides. "Careful. You'll get hurt. And plus, you're dress is getting dirty!" Sasori said. "It's okay! I'll wash it later!" Hinata said childishly, diving in head-first through a slide. She rolled across the sand and laughed. Sasori helped her up. "Jeez, you're more reckless than I thought. If Deidara didn't get to you, your behavior would do the trick!" Hinata scratched the back of her head, laughing a little. "Sorry, I'm just in a really good mood." 

Sasori noticed that her sleeve was red. "Ah… Hinata! Your arm's bleeding!" he exclaimed worriedly, holding out her arm to get a good look. "E-Eh!?" Hinata stared in surprise at her arm. "Wh-What should I do!?" she asked. Sasori sighed. "I _told_ you to be careful. I didn't take you here just to hurt yourself." He took out a bandage and wrapped it around her arm. "Honestly…"

"Um… wh-where did you get that?" Hinata asked, flexing her arm a little. "God." Sasori held her hand again, glancing up. "Oh… thank you, God!" Hinata giggled a little. 

The two walked around for a while until Hinata's stomach growled loudly. "Hungry?" Sasori laughed a bit. "Uh huh…" Hinata pouted cutely, patting her stomach. "What do you want to eat?" Sasori asked, blushing lightly. Hinata brightened up, grinning. "Ice cream!" she giggled. 

Sasori nodded. "Alrighty, wait here then, I'll be right back." He had Hinata sit down at a nearby bench and walked over to the ice cream vendor close to the fountain. "Hello, what would you like?" the vendor asked. "Two vanilla please… hey, wait a second… you look familiar…" Sasori looked at the person. "Would your name happen to be…Fai?" 

Fai laughed. "Yup! But hey, I gotta tell ya, the young lady over there likes strawberry a _little_ better than vanilla." He leaned over the counter and pointed to Hinata, who was staring happily at a butterfly. "What makes you think that?" Sasori asked. "Trust me." Fai winked as he handed Sasori one vanilla and one strawberry ice cream cones. "Oh… by the way, you're not dead in the series." Sasori said. Fai just smiled. "I should hope so!" the two laughed. "Haha. Thanks, Fai." 

Sasori hurried towards Hinata, handing her the strawberry ice cream. "Ah! Wow! I love strawberry! How'd you know?" She squealed, almost swallowing the whole cone whole. "Uh… A little birdie told me." Sasori sat down beside her, taking a bite out of his ice cream. 

A few hours passed, and in that time, Hinata managed to get herself wounded six times (mostly bruises from falling and tripping after playing on a jungle gym) and Sasori had to actually carry her home because she complained about her feet being sore. But they had lots of fun, so that was nice. However, the walk home felt a bit awkward. He could feel people staring at them from their windows, and it was unnerving. Sasori sighed in relief when he made it home. 

Hinata stirred in Sasori's arms, leaning a little closer to his face. "H-Hinata?" Sasori glanced down at her and noticed that she was asleep. He smiled. He walked over to the beds and placed Hinata on hers, not in the mood of going through all the trouble of going to his own. He scooted Hinata over a little bit and lied down beside her, letting one arm rest over her waist. Breathing in her scent, Sasori began to fall asleep. 

Hinata woke up feeling warm. She didn't open her eyes, though, it was too comfortable. But a small sound and a sudden movement caught her by surprise. Quickly, she turned around and was now face to face with Sasori. He opened his eyes and smiled. "Morning." 

Turning a dark red, Hinata asked, "Wh…What are you…" Still smiling, he answered, "I didn't feel like going to my bed." He hugged her tightly. "How're your arms and legs? Still aching?" he asked. Hinata tried moving them and smiled when no pain was felt. "Good." He kissed her lightly on the cheek, making her turn dark red again. "You are just too cute!" he gushed. 

Sasori got off the bed and stretched. "I'm hungry. How 'bout you?" he grinned. "I should sleep with you more often; I haven't slept that good in years!" he laughed. Hinata laughed awkwardly. 

Sasori helped her off the bed. "So, what's the plan today? We're _not_ going to the park –you hurt yourself too much." Hinata huffed. "Well! I'm sorry I'm so clumsy!" she crossed her arms over her chest. Sasori chuckled, rubbing her head. "Okay, sorry. But really, where do you want to go?" 

Hinata paused for a second. "Actually… I was thinking… would you like to see… Deidara?" Sasori gave her a confused look. "I-I mean… Like… would you like to come with me to visit Deidara? I'm sure he'd like to see you again." Sasori smiled. "Sure." Hinata brightened up. "Th-That's great!" she smiled widely. 

Sasori took her hand. "Let's go then, okay?" 

Sorry, had to leave off there. I gotta go somewhere right now and all this crap and jsadkf ;nfdv,cmvklasdfjkmlgjvmklfdjfmvkldfjmk

I'll update eventually.


	3. Chapter 3

"…I think he's still sleeping

"…I think he's still sleeping."

"Oh… then maybe we could go somewhere el-"

"Let's wake him up."

"N-No! We can't do that!"

"Yes we can."

"B-But…"

Deidara heard familiar voices as he began to wake up. He didn't open his eyes though, thinking that he might get hit with something the second he did.

"S-Sasori! Wait, you can't smother him with his own pillow!"

Sasori stopped himself from grabbing the pillow Deidara was resting his head on and looked at Hinata. "He won't wake up otherwise." He said. Hinata walked closer to Deidara, carefully placing a hand beside his head. "I think he's waking up." She whispered.

Deidara slowly opened his eyes, bracing himself to be hit with something. But nothing came, so he sat up, accidentally hitting Hinata's head. But no pain was felt. It was almost like he went right through her, but he didn't. "Ah. Sorry." He muttered. Hinata only smiled at him. "Look who I brought." She gestured to Sasori, who had his arms folded over his chest, a smug look on his face.

"…Hey." He grunted. "Well, this is a surprise. Who let you into heaven?" Deidara asked, chuckling a bit. "It's really simple, actually. I just sad sorry for all the killing I did and they let me in." Sasori said, sitting at the edge of the bed. He noticed Hinata staring dreamily at Deidara and frowned.

"Did they replace me yet?" Sasori asked. Deidara nodded grimly. "He should be here any second to wake me up." He growled. He glanced at Hinata and smiled at her. "What're you staring at?" he asked playfully. Hinata blinked in realization and turned a dark red. "S-Sorry. I thought I'd let you two catch up on each other and… I just got lost in my thoughts…" _of you_. She added in her head. Deidara reached to ruffle her hair but stopped. Hinata looked up at him, confused, but then smiled sheepishly.

Suddenly the door burst open and a man wearing an orange mask came running in. Deidara noticeably grimaced as he was pulled into a man-hug by the strange person. "Morning, sempai!" the man had a childish voice that matched his antics. "Morning, Tobi…" Deidara growled, pushing the one called Tobi away. "It's time for morning missions!" he cheered, holding up a folder full of unorganized papers. Deidara sighed.

Tobi fell silent, making Deidara look up at him from the bed. "Who's the pretty lady?" he stared at Hinata, who was equally shocked to find that he could see her. "Pretty lady?" Deidara repeated, looking towards Hinata. Then Tobi snickered. "How devious, Sempai, keeping a girl in your room!" he giggled. Hinata turned a light pink color. "Tobi, you can see her?" Deidara asked. Tobi nodded. "Of course. She's standing right there! Aw, she's blushing too!" He took a step towards her, and Hinata stepped back a bit.

"Oh no! Did I scare you!? I'm sorry! Tobi's harmless, I swear!" Tobi said apologetically, suddenly talking in the third person. "I-I'm not scared… It's just that… You're not supposed to see me." Hinata said, getting straight to the point. Tobi looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled behind his mask. "It'd be a crime _not_ to see you! Why am I not supposed to?" he asked. Hinata glanced at Deidara, who gave her a look that read, _Just tell him; he won't mind._

"Well… I'm dead." Hinata said. Tobi nodded at her. "Dead, huh? That's cool. Well, not exactly, but…" he jut out his hand at her. "Hi! My name's Tobi! It's nice to meet you, pretty dead lady!" Hinata smiled comfortably, happily shaking his hand. "It's nice to meet you, too, Tobi. I'm Hinata." She could tell that they were going to be good friends.

It was now that Sasori decided to make his presence known (and remembered) to the people in the room. "Hello? Another dead person?" Tobi asked curiously, turning towards Sasori. "Uh, yes. It's nice to meet you, Tobi." Sasori said, smiling a bit. "Yup! You too!"

For the next twenty minutes the four talked and talked about small subjects that were appropriate for small conversations. This lasted until they heard a loud booming voice yell at them for being too loud. Hinata and Sasori knew that it was directed towards the two living people in the room, so they saw the moment as a time to leave.

Deidara gave Hinata a quick hug before letting her disappear before his eyes. Tobi studied his expression for a little while after that. He looked sad, lonely, and a little hurt. But after a few seconds he recovered, meeting Tobi's gaze with a small smile. "We're late for morning missions, aren't we?" he asked, grabbing a shirt and pants to wear under his cloak. Tobi waited patiently by the door while he did this.

As the two walked down the halls of the Akatsuki Base, Tobi decided to ask a few questions. "Do you like Hinata?" He asked. Deidara looked at him, a little annoyed that he'd ask such a childish question. "Of course. I know you like her too." He answered. Tobi shook his head. "I don't like her!" he said almost defensively. For a moment, Deidara looked offended. "Why not?" Then sudden realization hit him. With Tobi's childish behavior, it was only natural to think that his thinking patterns were similar. And he remembered that the word 'like' was a substitute for the word 'love.'

Deidara turned a light red for a second as Tobi patiently waited for him to listen to his reason. He began to speak when he was sure he had Deidara's attention. "I mean I _like_ her, but I don't _like her_ like her. You know what I mean?" he asked. The language he spoke gave Deidara a bad case of nostalgia. "Sure." He looked down for a second. He was thinking about his true feelings for Hinata.

… _I…_ his thoughts started. Then the realization hit him. The way he felt light-headed whenever she was on her way here; the way his heart skipped a beat or two whenever she walked towards him; the way he felt like lightly tracing his finger over her cheeks whenever she blushed… "I love her." Deidara murmured in a low voice. Tobi looked at him, seeming to blush under his mask at the word 'love.'

Deidara's thoughts began to race in his head, both sides telling him the ups, downs, and turnarounds about his situation.

_She's your best friend! It could work!_

_You killed her; your best friend. It could never work out. _

_She likes you too, look at the way she stares at you with dreamy eyes!_

_She spends a lot of time with another guy. She's torn between, and the other guy might be winning as we speak. _

After about a million other thoughts that opposed each other, one of them stood out the most: _She's see-through and dead._ Now, out of the millions thoughts that his mind shot through him, this one stood out a little more. He thought it felt kind of lame that this one thought would stand out to him more than _She's a pure spirit and you're a tainted soul._ Two different messages were delivered in each. But maybe he was thinking too much about it. He might have been thinking of starting a relationship with her while he was still living.

"Deidara-sempai?" Tobi's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "Hunh?" Deidara snapped his head up to look around him. They were at the door to the meeting room. "Are you ready to go in?" Tobi asked, pushing the door open slightly. "Huh? Oh. Yeah. Let's go." Deidara walked past Tobi and into the room. _I have to stop thinking about this._ He told himself, turning towards the leader as he began to speak.

"Thank you for finally joining us, Deidara and Tobi." He said.

"Sorry." Was all Deidara said before his thoughts slowly drifted back to Hinata.

-:-

"I thought you'd be a little happier in seeing him, Sasori." Hinata said as she and Sasori appeared back into their house. "I was happy… I just didn't show it." Sasori let go of her hand and walked towards his bed. "Well you should have." Hinata huffed, sitting beside him, only on her bed. "Would've, could've, should've, but didn't." Sasori said flatly. He seemed to be in a bitter mood.

Hinata turned to look at him. "Is something wrong?" She sighed at him, lying on her stomach and getting ready to listen. Sasori didn't look back. "Do you love Deidara?" he asked out of the blue. Hinata blushed immediately, burrowing her chin deeper into the pillow so that she could still look at him. "…Why do you ask?" She asked softly. This time Sasori glanced at her. He didn't look happy. "Just curious. I saw you staring at him today." Sasori smirked as he saw her burrow her face into her pillow. "Okay… but promise you won't tell him!" She hissed at him. Sasori stopped himself from grimacing and nodded.

"I do love Deidara. But… It's just that… I shouldn't. I'm dead, y'know? And it's like… he's not." Hinata laughed a bit at the simplicity of it. "It feels more like a crush than love though." She sighed. Sasori looked at her. "This sounds a lot like some romance novel." He chuckled softly. He got off the bed and stretched. "I'm kinda sleepy. How 'bout you?" he asked, turning his body to look at her. "Yeah." Hinata lightly tugged at the upper part of her dress. It was strange how she never felt the need to change. Like she was wearing a fresh dress every time she woke up.

Hinata smiled at Sasori, making his heart jump slightly. "Right," he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, I'll get into bed when you're already sleeping, so don't wait for me." He said as casually as he could. "E-Eh!?" Hinata gasped. "Huh? Why are you surprised? I said I liked sleeping with you." Sasori said, unbuttoning his shirt. He threw it carelessly onto his bed, wearing only his undershirt. Hinata turned red. "Why are you taking that off!?" She asked.

Sasori shrugged. "It feels better this way. Aren't you uncomfortable in that dress? Why don't you take off that outer part." He suggested, reaching for one of the buttons on her dress. Hinata backed away a bit. "I don't know if there's an undershirt under here." She whispered, crossing her arms over her chest. "There probably is. Just look." Sasori said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Turn around." Hinata ordered, turning her back to him. Sasori sighed, turning around as she asked.

"Ah." He heard Hinata say in surprise. "I told you." He smirked.

Grudgingly, Hinata started removing the outer part of her dress. She carefully folded it, and then placed it at the edge of Sasori's bed. Then she turned around, Sasori doing the same. "…Does it look weird?" Hinata asked timidly, pulling the covers up to cover her legs. Sasori blushed, slowly shaking his head. "You look _fine._" He emphasized the fine to show that he meant both meanings.

It took Hinata a moment to get what he was saying, and when she did she blushed. "O-Okay. G-G-Good night…" She crawled under the blankets and tried to sleep. But she could feel Sasori watching her, which made her uncomfortable. "D-Don't stare at me…" She said softly. "Sorry." She felt Sasori stand up, moving toward his own bed. "Are you going to sleep alone now?" Hinata asked, sounding a bit disappointed. "No. Why?" Sasori smirked at her. "…'Cause… I kinda… like sleeping with you too." Hinata suddenly felt the weight on the bed shift. A strong arm wrapped around her, and she snuggled closer to the warmth.

"Hug me." He said. Hinata turned around on the bed and hugged him, giggling a bit. "What?" he laughed a bit, looking down towards her. "You're warm." She said, looking up to him. They never realized how close their faces were until now. Hinata blushed, shyly biting her lip. Sasori began to lean down to her –to kiss her- but stopped. He ended up half an inch from her face. Hinata had closed her eyes, feeling that she might faint at how close they were.

The warmth she felt on her face was gone when Sasori drew back. "I'm… Sorry. I just met you a few days ago and now I'm trying to…" he trailed off. Hinata was about to speak, but stopped herself. "Look, why don't we just go to sleep now, okay?" He said softly. He moved his arms a way from her and turned around on the bed, his back facing Hinata. She stared at it for a minute before hesitantly resting an arm around him.

Sasori stiffened slightly, but then placed a hand over hers. He smiled a bit to himself before falling asleep.

-:-

"Hey, I heard that Neji's an emo now."

"Emo? Like cutting himself, cries in dark corners emo?"

"Yeah. Why else would he wear bandages over his arm like that? Totally creepy."

Neji walked down the hallways of the school, trying to ignore the constant whispers from the other students at their lockers. It wasn't easy because he was currently the talk of school. He was known as 'the one with a dead sister'.

"Yeah, but it's totally understandable. I mean, he just lost his sister, y'know?"

"Oh yeah… Hinata, right?"

"Uh-huh. They were really close."

"Dang, now I just feel sorry for the dude."

"I know, me too..."

Neji cursed to himself, shrugging into the classroom. Suddenly things fell silent, and he could feel eyes staring at him as he walked to his desk. "What?" He spat, and everyone turned away, low murmurs traveling across the room. Two familiar faces sat on either side of him.

"Hey, Neji. What's up?" It was TenTen. She was one of Neji's best friends. Rock Lee, Neji's other best friend leaned in to listen to his response. "Everyone's staring at me again." Neji answered, frowning a little more than usual. He felt TenTen tug at his arm, and she examined the bandages carefully. "No wonder. You're cutting yourself." She said, a little too casual to be comfortable. Neji shook off her hands, and out his arm in his other hand. "I can't help it." He muttered.

TenTen frowned. "Yeah you can. Just stay away from all things sharp and try not to jump off buildings." She said, sounding as if it were obvious. "Easier said than done." Neji murmured coldly. "But that doesn't mean it's impossible. Just try." Rock Lee added in. "Neji, please remember that me and Lee are here for you." TenTen said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah…"

Neji felt the edge of his mouth twitch upward a bit. It felt nice to know that his friends were there to support him. Maybe… he was starting to look up a bit. Maybe he was trying to smile.

--

Hinata smiled a little to herself as she watched her brother Neji attended school. "He'll get better… I know it." She whispered to herself. For once in the life since her death things were beginning to look upward, even though it was only a twitch. She felt glad.

_TenTen, Lee, please help Neji get back up on his feet…_

-:-

"Deidara! Hey! We're here again!" Hinata greeted happily as she walked up to Deidara on his bed. He seemed to be sleeping. Hinata was about to poke him, but he let out a low groan and turned on his back. "…Do ya have to come here in the morning?" he asked, laying his arm over his eyes. "It's either now or never." Sasori said. "Ugh… Okay, fine." Deidara sat up and looked at Hinata, smiling a bit. He noticed her blush and turn away, a small smile on her face as well.

"So what's up?" Sasori asked, sitting at the foot of the bed. But he felt uncomfortable there, so he just settled for floating cross-legged in the air. Deidara huffed. "It must be cool having wings. All I got are clay birds." He said, laughing a bit. Since Sasori didn't, Hinata sat on the bed.

"Me and Tobi have been working almost every second of the day lately. It's like he's trying to work us to death!" Deidara complained. "Really? What kinds of things is he giving you?" Sasori asked. "Small things like… assassinations to information tracking. It pisses me off!" Deidara ran a hand through his blonde hair, growling a bit. "Wow. I wonder what he's planning." Sasori thought aloud. Hinata just looked back and forth at the two as they talked.

"I mean, I know we can do better than that, even if Tobi's a bit… You know." He glanced at Hinata and found that she was staring at him again. "Something wrong?" he asked her. She shook her head, lowering her gaze to the floor. Deidara rolled out of bed and walked to her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. Or, rather, patted his hand about three inches into her arm. He flinched a bit. Was she always so… so go-through? Hinata seemed equally surprised by this.

"Uh… Sorry." He said, moving his hand away. "That's… okay." Hinata replied softly, reaching out a hand to touch him again. Same thing. "Hinata, is this normal?" Deidara asked. "It wasn't normal for you to see me in the first place, so…" Hinata studied her hand intensely. "Ah…" Deidara nodded in understanding.

Hinata stood up. "Maybe it's time for us to leave…" She said. Deidara noticeably frowned. "We'll be back tomorrow. Tell Tobi I said hi, okay?" Hinata opened her arms for a quick hug, and Deidara quickly responded. Only it felt more like hugging air than the one you loved. He sighed. "I'll see you later then." He said. Sasori nodded to Deidara before the two of them disappeared into the air.

Deidara flung himself back onto his bed. _I wonder what happened to Hinata..._

--

Hinata sat on the bed and hugged her knees to her chest. She rested her chin on her knees, letting out a heavy sigh. Sasori scoffed. "Not hugging Deidara isn't the worst of your problems." He said. "That's not what I'm troubled about." She murmured. Sasori sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Then what?" he asked.

"…I dunno… I just suddenly… get the feeling that I haven't really passed on yet." Hinata answered softly. "Passed on? But you're already dead." Sasori said, resting his head on hers. "I know… but… it's like… have you noticed how things are really quiet? Like right now, listen." Hinata held the breath that she didn't have to listen to the silence. "See? No laughing, people talking, nothing." She whispered.

Sasori just sat and listened. "And… maybe we've overstayed our welcome. I feel like we should be _doing_ something... something that'll get us into _real_ heaven." Hinata felt that she was speaking nonsense. She heard Sasori chuckle lightly. "And all these thoughts because Deidara couldn't hug you?" he asked. Hinata gently hit him.

"I'm being serious here! I saw it in a TV show once; we haven't seen the _true_ light, we have unfinished business to do! We have to do _something!_" Hinata almost glared at him. "And you thought of all this in the few seconds we've been here?" Sasori asked. Hinata shook her head. "No. I've always been suspicious… just a little bit." Sasori took a long minute to think about it, then suddenly started laughing.

Hinata stared at him. Sasori kissed her head. She turned red, but still tried to look angry. "You think too much!" he said. "Things are just fine; there's nothing to worry about." He added.

"But… if this is heaven… then why aren't I happy?" Hinata asked. Sasori's laughing faded, and he gazed at her for a long time. "You're not happy?" he asked softly, and for a second Hinata felt guilty. "No… not really. I'm not being… fully happy." She responded. Now Sasori frowned. Hinata looked away.

"Don't I make you happy?" He didn't know why he cared, but he did. Hinata looked puzzled for a moment. She refused to look at him, which she knew hurt his feelings. "Don't I?" he asked again, turning her head to face him. "That's…" Hinata started. "That's not… what I mean." She didn't make eye contact. "You make me… very happy Sasori. Really." Sasori held her close until his lips were almost over hers. He could feel the heat radiating from her now red cheeks. He wanted to kiss her so badly…

Sasori backed away. Hinata just stared after him as he hopped off the bed and sighed. "Sasori?" Hinata reached out to touch him, but he brushed her hand away. "I'm sorry. I tried it again." He murmured. "It's… okay." Hinata looked down to the floor. "I'm gonna… read for the rest of the day. Until I get tired. Can you keep yourself busy until then?" he asked. "S… Sure." Hinata nodded.

She watched him walk over to the bookshelf, sitting in that same bean bag chair in the corner that they first met each other in. He sighed; sitting cross legged and laying the book open to a random page in his lap. He didn't seem to be reading at all; just staring at the meaningless words as he lost himself in his own thoughts. He was leaning his head on his fist, his elbow on his leg. She studied him a bit longer before moving off the bed to look for something to do.

It wasn't until she actually studied the room that she realized that her iPod was sitting on a side table beside the bed. She quickly grabbed it, turning it on so that she could see if all her songs were still there. She sighed with relief when she saw that they were. She plugged in her headphones and tuned it to 'shuffle songs', turning the volume way up when the first song started to play. It was "Move Along" by The All American Rejects.

_Go ahead as you waste your days with thinking_

_When you fall everyone sins_

_Another day and you've had your fill of sinking_

_With the life held in your_

_Hands are shaking cold_

_These hands are meant to hold_

_Speak to me!_

_When all you got to keep is strong_

_Move along; move alone like I know you do_

_And even when your hope is gone,_

_Move along; move along just to make it through_

_Move along_

_Move along_

She sighed, thinking about how she was totally relating to this song. It felt silly; but it was true. Her eyes began to close as sleep began taking over her.

_Right back what is wrong_

_We move along…_

-:-

"_**Hinata…"**_

_Hinata looked around for the owner of the voice, but found it useless. It was pitch black all around. _

"_**This is God. You don't need to see me; not yet."**__ God explained softly to her. Hinata nodded slowly, deciding to just stay still and listen. _

"_**I'm going to talk to you about your thoughts on heaven."**__ He said. "Are they wrong?" Hinata asked. __**"No, in fact, they're very close to correct. Allow me to explain."**_

_**You were correct; You and Sasori are not in full-time heaven. You are, like the many other spirits in the houses on the street, still itching to finish something that you couldn't when you were alive. Now, in order to pass on completely, you have to finish that business. **_

"_But… what is it that I have to finish?" Hinata asked. __**"I can't tell you. You have to find that out on your own." **__God answered. "I-I can't figure that out! I… I don't know what I have to finish! Is it that science test I missed a few days ago because someone killed me? I don't like science, but if I need to take the test to get to real heaven then-" She stopped when she heard God chuckle. _

"_**Its not that science test. But I'll give you a hint, since I'm nice like that."**__ Hinata nodded, listening carefully so that she wouldn't forget when she woke up. __**"Your unfinished business has greatly to do with Deidara." **__Hinata thought a moment. 'Deidara…' _

"_**And for extra credit, try to get your brother to stop cutting himself; it hurts me to see my children do that to themselves."**__ Hinata nodded. "I'll do my absolute best, sir." She saluted, making God laugh a little. __**"Good girl. Now, just to help Sasori out a bit, there's something he had to say to Deidara that he didn't get to do before he died. Please pass that on to him."**__ Hinata smiled. "Okay. Is there a time limit?" Hinata asked. _

"_**Hmm… Just to be nice, you have until the end of next week."**__ God said. "Wh-What? But that's too-" _

"_**Bye Hinata, I hope you get right on it." **__God interrupted. "W-Wait…!" _

Hinata's eyes snapped open, and they studied her surroundings. She was still lying down, and she was still listening to her iPod. She realized that it was a different song, so she brought her hand up to look at the title and the battery life. She was surprised to see that it was still full, yet she was about 60 songs in on the list. "Daybreak's Bell" by L'Arc en ciel.

A few seconds later, she remembered her dream. "I have to… talk to Deidara?" She whispered to herself. She turned to Sasori, who seemed to have switched to a different book while she was asleep. Slowly she sat up, hunching over and wiping her eyes. She stretched her arms, standing up. She pulled the headphones out of her ears and rolled them up, turning off her iPod in the process.

"Have a good nap?" Sasori asked from his corner. Hinata looked at him and smiled a little. "Are you still mad at me?" She asked innocently. Sasori gave her a confused look. "Mad at you? I was never mad at you." He said, standing up and stretching. He walked over to her, placing his hand over hers.

"…God was in my dream last night." Hinata said. "What'd he say?" Sasori asked, leaning on his arms and moving closer to her. "He said… that I was right. We're not in real heaven. We have some… unfinished business to take care of." Hinata explained, letting her fingers interlace with his. "Both of us have something to say to Deidara." She finished.

"Hm. Okay. But… I've got something to say to you first." Sasori brought her hand up to his face and pressed it against his cheek. "I've been thinking about it a lot while you nodded off to sleep." He said, moving her so that she was facing him. Hinata listened to him intently, trying to make up for the guilt she was feeling for before she fell asleep. "And I know that we met only a few days ago…" he trailed off, leaning close to her and breathing in her scent.

"You sound like you're proposing to me or something." Hinata laughed a bit, not bothered at all by the closeness she and Sasori had. He smiled, one arm wrapping around her waist, his other arm pushing their bodies together. "And I thought that I should just say it; but I thought a little explanation would help me justify this… this feeling." Sasori felt her arms wrap around his neck so that she wouldn't slip off the bed.

Hinata felt his lips press against her ear. She turned a dark red at the words he spoke. "…I love you." The whisper of the word sent chills down her spine. Her arms moved down to his chest to leave a little room in between them.

"You… You love me?" Hinata breathed against his shoulder. Sasori nodded, their cheeks brushing against each other's. Hinata scrambled for a response, but didn't know what to say. "I… I-I…" she stuttered. "You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know what effect you had on me." Sasori's lips brushed against her ear, once again sending shivers down her spine. "B-But… I _want_ to say something…" she whispered to him.

"I don't want you to say anything. I just want…" Sasori gently pressed his lips to hers. She looked surprised for a second, but melted into the kiss soon after. Her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer. And suddenly, it was over. She looked at him with confused eyes. He looked troubled.

"You don't have to… lie to yourself to make me feel happy. I know that… you love Deidara. I just needed you to know how I felt." Sasori sighed, moving his arms to his sides. Hinata touched her lips. "…Maybe I wasn't lying." She whispered, catching his attention. "…I don't know how I feel anymore. You've confused me and now… I don't know."

Sasori smiled. He kissed her lightly before pulling away again. "Well, you'd better make sure. I don't want to get my hopes up just yet." He said. Hinata nodded, lying back onto the bed as he crawled next to her. "You sleepy? I know I am." He made her lie down next to him and pulled the covers over them.

"Good night." He whispered to her. "Good… night." Hinata whispered back.

-:-

It is clear that attitudes, actions, and feelings have been changed thanks to my long hiatus for this story. I apologize.


	4. Chapter 4

"_**Hinata, I hope I didn't forget to tell you that you have until the end of next week to stay in this part of Heaven."**_ God was in Hinata's dream again. And this time, he came to her with news that she now had exactly until the end of next week to figure out what she had to say to Deidara and leave this part of heaven. Such a short time to think about such a general subject.

"…_You kind of did… but thanks for telling me anyway." _Hinata said to him. _**"Oh. Well, you do."**_She heard him chuckle lightly.

It wasn't long after that until Hinata woke up. She felt warmer than usual, something wrapped tightly around her. Slowly, she turned her head to look, and met with Sasori's lips pressing to hers. "Ah!" Hinata rolled a little away from him. He stretched, turning to her. He didn't seem surprised. It took Hinata a minute to recall what happened last night. When she did, she turned a dark red and buried her face in a pillow.

Sasori chuckled a bit. "…What…?" Hinata murmured to him, shyly turning away from him. "I love you, that's what." He trailed his finger over her cheek. Hinata made a sort of squealing sound into the pillow, curling into a ball. She seemed embarrassed. "Hinata?" Sasori propped himself on his left elbow, reaching over to Hinata to check if she was okay. She inched away, almost pressing to the wall.

A little worried, Sasori sat up. He placed a hand on Hinata's side, and she squealed again. "Are you okay?" he asked. Hinata shook her head. Suddenly Sasori wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to him. She yelped in surprise as he sat her on his lap. She covered her face from embarrassment. She remembered how she responded to his kiss last night… it was just so… so not _like_ her. The last time someone kissed her… she was so shy about it. So what made that time different?

Hinata felt Sasori wind his hands around her wrists, pulling her hands away from her face. "What're you so worried about?" he asked worriedly, wrapping his arms around her waist. "L-L-Last… n-night… y-y-you k-kissed m-me..." She stuttered, about to cover her face again, but Sasori's arms were around her hands. "Uh huh… and that made you uncomfortable? I'm sorry." He apologized, letting his lips brush on her neck. He felt Hinata shiver and smirked. "But I couldn't help myself. Since the second I met you I've always wanted to…"

Before she could completely melt into his arms, Hinata jumped off his lap and walked a little ways away from the bed. She had a hand over her face, which was flushed a dark red. Sasori stayed where he was. He figured that she was still getting used to the fact that he just confessed to her last night.

"Hinata—" Sasori began, but was cut off when Hinata suddenly exclaimed, "Let's go see what Deidara's doing!" and disappeared to Deidara's room. Sasori sighed, following after her.

--

"_Hey, Hinata?" Deidara asked, awkwardly sitting beside Hinata on a bench outside the school building. "Hm?" It was lunchtime, and right now Hinata was taking a bite out of her sandwich. She looked to him, a corner of the sandwich still in her mouth. "Do you like anybody in the class?" Deidara drummed his fingers on his knee, anxiously waiting for an answer. "Why?" Hinata laughed a bit, thinking that the question was a bit random. "I was just… wondering." Deidara glanced at her, and then turned away. _

_Hinata shrugged. "I dunno. I like everybody." She said lightly. Deidara looked down, biting his lip. "Do you like someone a little more than the others?" he asked. Hinata looked surprised for a second, then smiled warmly at him. "Yeah, I do. Why?" She studied his slow and thoughtful reaction. _

"_What color's his hair?" _

"_Blonde."_

"_Eyes?"_

"_Blue." _

_Hinata laughed again when Deidara once again began to think about her answers. She knew he was considering the other blonde in their class: Naruto. He wasn't the one for her, though. _

"_How tall?" _

"_Taller than me."_

_Deidara gave her a look, and she smiled in response. _

"_Weight?" _

"_He never told me." _

_Deidara paused for a second. _

"_Is it not me?" he asked. "No." Hinata answered, after giving the question some thought. "It's not not you." She added, in case her answer sent a different message than she intended. Deidara grinned. "Why do you ask?" Hinata asked him, already knowing the answer. "Just wondering." He answered, placing his hand over hers. _

-

Hinata stared at the ceiling as she recalled all those memories from when she was alive. That was one of her favorites. Though, it was a little disappointing that the bell beat them to get anything more than that. After that, they didn't mention it. Hinata wished she had.

She felt Sasori put his hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" he asked. "Yeah… why wouldn't I be?" Hinata answered softly, bobbing her head towards him. Her eyes stayed on the ground. She saw Sasori sit beside her from the corner of her eye. "I wonder where Deidara is… it's rude to keep a lady waiting." He said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She shook him off; he frowned.

"There are so many things I regret not telling Deidara… I don't think I can come up with the one most important by the end of next week." Hinata hugged her legs to her chest, resting her head on her knees.

"_Hey Hinata! Can I come over today?" _

"_Sure. I want to show you a video I saw on YouTube…"_

Hinata clasped her hands together.

"_Are you alright, Deidara?"_

"_Yeah… don't worry 'bout me. I'm fine." _

She shut her eyes tightly.

"_Hey, how's the new baby?" _

"_She cries almost every waking moment and craps every sleeping one."_

"_Hehe… that sucks. If you want, there's always that guest room at my house if you wanna wait until she's five."_

Hinata felt tears burning at the corners of her eyes.

"_You're my best friend, y'know that? Always so patient and kind – I almost think that you're spoiling me. Hehe…" _

"_You're my best friend, too. I can't imagine how boring my life would be without you – I hope you never go away, Deidara." _

"_Me too."_

She was trembling now, trading crying for endless shaking.

"_Hey, can I take you somewhere tomorrow night, Hinata?" _

"_Like a date?" –giggle-_

"…_Sure. Let's call it a date. Just you and me. Together."_

"_Alright."_

Sasori was about to touch her, but decided against it. He left her to her thoughts, not knowing how painful they were.

"_Where are you taking me!?"_

"_Don't make this harder than it already is, Hinata." _

"_Wh-What the… Is that a knife?" _

"_I'm so sorry… I have to do this." _

"_Ow! That hurt! Don't do that!" _

"_I'm sorry!" _

"_Kyaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!"_

"Hinata?" A familiar, worried voice called her name. Hinata snapped her head up, tears falling freely down her cheeks. "Are you alright? Did Sasori do something to you?" it was Deidara, to her relief. He tried to wipe her tears away, but only sifted through her cheek. He cursed under his breath, and stood back up.

Sasori wiped the tears away instead, gently kissing Hinata on her head. Deidara seemed surprised, but shrugged it off when Hinata began to calm down. "D-Deidara…" Hinata started, but stopped. Deidara was crouched down in front of her again. "Yeah?" he gently put a hand on her arm, grimacing when his hand went farther through than yesterday.

Hinata jumped into his arms, starting to cry again. Deidara tried his best to hug her back. "I-It's okay… D-Don't cry. I'm here." He said, aiming to sound comforting. He didn't know what was wrong, and didn't usually have anything good to say, but for Hinata, all he wanted was for her to be happy.

Sasori watched in silence as Hinata cried into Deidara's still-dry chest. He wanted so much to just wrap his arms around her… and kiss her… and tell her it was alright with the same comfort Deidara seemed to give her… but he didn't. It was for the best, he thought.

Hinata started to calm down, and she pulled away from Deidara. "I-I'm sorry…" – she sniffled slightly— "I… I was just… thinking… of when I was still alive." She wiped her face. "… and how I stopped." Deidara frowned to himself. Sensing the tension, Hinata quickly said, "B-But I just let my thoughts get the better of me! I-It's no reason to get all depressed… Alright?" she looked at Deidara. He stared at her for a long time before cracking a smile. "Okay."

Suddenly, Tobi burst into the room. "Heyllo!!" he greeted, looking extremely glad to see Hinata there. "Long time no see!" he giggled childishly, grasping both of Hinata's hands in his. "Hi, Tobi." She smiled a little. "_Gasp!_ You look sad! Ugh, Did Deidara-sempai do something to make you unhappy?" Tobi turned to Deidara and tsk'd him. Deidara scoffed. "As if." He muttered, blowing a strand of hair away from his face.

Tobi tightly held Hinata's face. "If Deidara starts ticking you off, you tell me, okay?" he said firmly. Hinata couldn't help but laugh. "Okay. I will." She smiled.

Tobi seemed to grin under his mask, heading for the door. "I'll go ahead, okay?" he said to Deidara. "Yeah. See you later." Tobi waved to Hinata. "I'll see you later, Hinata!" Hinata waved back, giggling a bit. "Bye."

-:-

"Hey, Neji! Can we come over today to work on homework?" TenTen asked as she, Neji, and Rock Lee walked down the hallway towards their lockers. "Huh? Oh. Sure. Why don't you guys walk with me home then?" Neji offered, the edge of his mouth cracking up a bit. "Eh? What's this? Did Neji just try to _smile_, Rock Lee?" TenTen teased, nudging Lee in the arm. "I think so, Ten. Amazing." The two laughed. "Do you want to come over or not?" Neji threatened, slamming his locker closed and walking down the hallway. TenTen and Lee followed.

The three walked down the sidewalk happily. Well, two of the three did. Neji had a bored expression that leaned more toward the usual sad expression that he brought to school often nowadays. It wasn't long until they reached Neji's house, and TenTen let herself in as if she lived there.

"Mom! I'm home!" She called. They heard a small laughing sound from the kitchen. "Hello, TenTen! How are you?" Mrs. Hyuga asked. "I'm fine! How 'bout you? Where's Hanabi?" TenTen happily took a seat at the table.

"Hello, Mrs. Hyuga." Rock Lee greeted politely, bowing a little and taking a seat at the table as well. "Hey mom." Neji muttered. "Guys, I'll be in my room. You know where to find me." He went ahead upstairs.

When she was sure he was gone, TenTen turned to Mrs. Hyuga. "How's he holding up?" She asked. "He's getting better… slowly. Thanks to you two, I figure." Mrs. Hyuga smiled. "Thank you so much. I don't know if Neji would be able to get back up without you two." TenTen smiled back. "And I think he's taken a special liking to you, TenTen, if I still know him like I used to." Mrs. Hyuga chuckled, watching as TenTen blushed. Rock Lee snickered.

"Well, you two should go up to Neji now; he should be done changing out of his uniform." Mrs. Hyuga said, turning on the faucet to start washing dishes. "Okay, Thank you, Mom!" TenTen waved happily as she and Rock Lee made their way upstairs to Neji's room.

"Finally. What'd you and mom talk about?" Neji asked, sitting cross-legged on the bed. Now, Neji had a small bed, which made only room for two to sit like that with homework strewn in between. "Alright, let's start with math." Lee took a seat on the bed, opening his textbook. TenTen sat on the floor, her book open on her lap.

Suddenly, Neji hit Lee with a pillow, knocking him off the bed. "GHAAK!!" Lee fell face-first into the math textbook, a page ripping halfway in the process. He turned around to ask Neji why, but the reason became clear when Neji said in a very gruff tone, "TenTen, you sit there. Lee, on the floor." He gathered up all of Lee's papers and threw them at the green-clad boy on the floor. TenTen glanced at Lee for a second, but then moved to sit on the bed beside Neji. "So cruel…" Lee murmured, crawling over to them.

TenTen giggled, looking at Neji. His cheeks were tinted a light pink, and he didn't look as sad as before. Now all he needed was a smile. "Alright, so we need to memorize this formula for the test." He said after clearing his throat. "Ugh… This is math, so where are all the numbers?" Lee whined, his face still hurting from his fall from the bed. TenTen laughed a bit, Neji just contributing a short "Hm" before turning the page.

The three moved on to a different subject after 30 minutes, and another one in another 30 minutes. It was a good system that lasted until they ran out of things to study.

"Well, I think me and Lee should get going now. See you tomorrow, Neji!" TenTen stretched, then bent down to get her bag off the floor. "Huh? Already?" Neji asked, looking at the clock. "Oh… I guess you're right. I'll see you two tomorrow." He looked disappointed for a second. "Aw, are you gonna miss us?" Lee asked. "Not anymore," Neji growled. "Go on and leave already, Lee!" it was meant to be a joke, really. "Alright, Alright. See ya later." And in a few minutes, they were gone.

Neji sighed. He looked out the window, absently looking around for that razor he remembered was somewhere on his bed. He was getting depressed again and he needed it to come out with his blood. Realizing that he couldn't find it, he looked under his sheets and on his desk. He knew he didn't bring it near the closet, so the razor was missing. _TenTen must've took it…_ he thought.

--

"TenTen, what're you holding?" Rock Lee asked as TenTen walked while studying a razor in her hand. "It's Neji's razor. I don't want him to cut himself, and I found his razor on the bed, so I took it." TenTen answered. "Good plan, but won't he get angry?" Lee questioned. "Then let him be angry! This is for his own good!" TenTen huffed, putting the razor back in her pocket.

-:-

"Oh… So you're getting ready for this big mission that you brought upon yourself?" Sasori asked. "Well… more like I _wanted_ to do this, and I just got the leader's permission." Deidara explained, making sure that every weapon he needed was hidden under his cloak. "I see. So is it just you?" Sasori asked. "No, Tobi's coming with. I don't think he'll be much trouble." Deidara shrugged.

"So what _is_ your mission?" Hinata asked. "Oh. Well, it's a long story, so I'll make it quick. This guy killed another guy that _I _was supposed to kill, so I'm just taking revenge for what's mine." He saw Hinata's concerned look and patted what part of her head he could. "It's fine. Think of it as a fight between men." He told her. "What I think of it won't change what it really is." Hinata said softly. Deidara frowned.

"I'd better get going. I'm sure Tobi's already about a mile ahead and I ought to catch up." Deidara said, nodding to Sasori as he began walking to the door. Hinata followed him, grabbing his cloak before he left.

"Be careful." She said, worry evident in her voice. Deidara smiled. "I will." With that he walked out the door, disappearing the second he stepped outside.

--

Hinata and Sasori went back, Sasori having one of his arms around her. "Are you alright?" he asked. Hinata paused, then smiled at him. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just… thinking again." She said, taking her iPod off the table and plugging in the headphones. She sat on the couch this time, leaning back as far as the chair would let her. She let out a long and heavy sigh, closing her eyes. Sasori just watched her.

He looked at her worriedly for a second, then walked toward her. She didn't notice. He picked her up and sat down in the chair, placing her on his lap. Her iPod now sat on her legs instead of in her hands because her arms were clutching his shirt so that she wouldn't fall off. She stared at him with confused eyes, ones that were not that far away from Sasori's face. He smiled, wrapping his arms around her waist so that she wouldn't have to hang on to him.

The music that played in her ears was nothing compared to the sound of the heart beating wildly against her chest.

Sasori leaned his head to hers. "Talk to me." He said in a soft and soothing voice. "What…?" Hinata whispered, closing her eyes again. "What are you thinking about?" Sasori asked, bringing her face closer to his; but he didn't kiss her. Hinata exhaled slowly, her eyes closing. "Lots of things." She sighed. "Like what?" Sasori whispered in her ear, playing with strands of her hair.

Hinata bit her lip. Should she tell him the things on her mind? Should she tell him about her past friendship with Deidara? "You can tell me." He added soothingly next to her ear. "I-I… Its… I've been thinking about… when I was… alive. About how me and Deidara were… stuck together like glue. Best friends. A pair of underwear." Sasori gave her a puzzled look. "He came up with that one." Hinata blushed a little at their old antics. Sasori laughed. "That's so like him." He smiled.

Hinata smiled as well. "We always laughed, no matter how lame or insensible the joke was. The pure randomness of the joke kept us going." She paused, looking down at her iPod, playing around with the menu screen. She saw a picture of the two from the photos section and smiled sadly. "I miss him. The old him… well, both sides. I miss all of him, really." She leaned on the cushion of the couch beside Sasori's head, a few tears falling out of her eyes.

Sasori rubbed her back, his other arm holding her close. "You don't have to say anything anymore. I'm sorry I brought it up." He apologized softly to her. Hinata wrapped her arms around him tightly, pressing her face in to his shoulder. "It-It's not… It's not your fault… y-you should have brought it up… I've been… I've been itching to tell someone. I've always wanted… wanted to _tell_ someone my feelings about everything… I've always wanted to pour out my life story to someone…" Hinata clutched his shirt. "I just didn't want to bring anyone down because of me."

Suddenly, Sasori flipped them over so that he was on top. The sudden movement sent the chair tipping over backwards. Hinata squeaked in surprise as Sasori's hands gripped her wrists. "You're so…" he started, pausing for a minute. "You are… a good girl. A very good… innocent girl." Hinata gave him a confused look. "Wh… What are you talking about?" her breathing sped up a little, his face just inches from hers.

Sighing, Sasori leaned back, turning the chair back to standing up. Hinata crashed into Sasori, her arms still in his grasp. "Hinata… you deserve better than this. You shouldn't have to suffer from… from a broken heart." He told her, standing up. His arms wrapped around her. "You shouldn't have died. I shouldn't have met you – loved you." Hinata slowly hugged him back. "I don't deserve you. You don't deserve me. I shouldn't even _be_ here, I-"

He stopped, noticing that Hinata was shaking a little. "S-Stop… Stop saying that." She whispered. "…None of the things you said about yourself are true! Even after someone dies… what happens after happens for a reason! Shouldn't have, wouldn't have, couldn't have, but it did!" she paused to wipe her face on his shoulder. "Everything you said that shouldn't happen, it did. And complaining about it won't change a thing. So quit moping about my problems and be happy!" she sounded almost angry now, if it weren't for her voice cracking under the tears.

Sasori smiled a little. "Okay." He kissed her head. "_Okay!?_ After all that, all you give me is an 'O_kay_!?' God, I just threw up all my feelings and crap! Jeez, you are so…" Sasori didn't hear the rest; he was laughing.

-:-

That mission Deidara's going on is that Deidara vs. Sasuke fight. Just so you know.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, before you say ANYTHING about the fight between Deidara and Sasuke: Close enough, alright?

Okey-dokey then, on with the chapter.

-:-

_**Uh-oh. This is a problem. A big problem indeed. **_God shook his head in disappointment as he watched Deidara swiftly run through the woods and towards Tobi, who was a farther ways ahead.

"_What is it, God?" _an assistant angel asked with concern. He looked towards one of the bigger screens that God was looking at.

_**You remember that Hinata Hyuga I was telling you about? **_God asked casually, as if he were watching a soap opera that he already knew the ending to.

"_The girl with the interesting love story? Yes, of course I remember." _The angel answered, sitting on thin air and watching the screen.

_**Well, now her living-love has gone and gotten himself into trouble – big trouble. Like, his-life's-at-stake-for-a-not-so-good-reason trouble. And I think Hinata has a little less time to say she likes him than what I told her. **_God sighed a little.

"_My, that is a problem. And an interesting plot twist! I hope Hinata makes it to him in time."_ The angel looked up to God, who had a worried look on his face. _**You think I should tell her that she has less time than I promised?**_he asked. The angel jolted a little, nervous. _"I-I couldn't possibly—I mean, what would my opinion do? I'm just an angel!"_ it stammered. _**Oh, it would help me a lot. I just wanna know what you think is all.**_God chuckled. _"Well… What I think… I-I mean, I think that… If Hinata really was destined to end up with that guy over there,"_ the angel gestured to Deidara on the screen. _"Then she should know what to say before her time's up." _The angel paused, pressing its fingers together shyly.

God chuckled again, gently patting the angel on the head. _**That's a great idea. In fact, I'll just wait until the last possible second to change things. Besides, when Deidara dies, I'll let him into heaven so that he and Hinata will be happy. **_The angel looked up at him, puzzled. _"But God, what about Sasori?"_ God paused, thinking. _**He won't be extremely lonely. He understands Hinata enough that he can't have her like he wants to. He'll be fine.**_ The angel nodded. _"Alright. If you say so."_

-:-

Hinata woke up lying on top of Sasori on the bed. She didn't seem surprised until he started waking up a little after she did. "Mn… Morning…" he moved to prop himself up on his arms, unintentionally moving closer to Hinata's face. Still dazed, Hinata leaned on him as she clung to sleep like a child does a blanket. Sasori chuckled, stroking her hair gently. The sudden movement made Hinata jump, realizing that she was sleeping on top of him.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" he asked. Hinata turned red. "A-Ah! I-I'm sorry! I-I-I don't know what happened, but I must be heavy! I'll get off right now—" she tried to roll off of him, but he had an arm 

wrapped around her waist. "You're not… heavy." He yawned, rolling on top of her. She squeaked as he buried himself in her shoulder. "Now, the question is, am _I_ heavy?" he asked. He was a little heavy, but… it was oddly comfortable the way they were. Hinata slowly shook her head. Sasori smiled. "Good."

His hand held hers. His breath warmed her neck, yet it sent chills down her spine. "S… Sasori… m-maybe you should…" she trailed off. "Hm? Sorry, am I really heavy?" he asked, moving off of her. "Y-You're not… heavy… it's just that you should… I shouldn't let you…" Hinata turned over on her back. "Oh… I see. You're still debating between Deidara and me." Sasori said, looking down. "… yeah. That's it." Hinata admitted.

Suddenly, she sat up. "Deidara." She breathed. "Where is he right now?" she stood up and paced around. "We should check up on him! But I don't know where he is!" she suddenly snapped. Sasori walked to her and gathered her in his arms. "Just wait a second, alright?" he whispered in her ear. "Deidara's fine, there's nothing to worry about." He added. He felt her calm down a bit. "But… But I want to see him…" she said softly, placing her hands on his arms. She walked out of his hug and turned to him. "I _need_ to see him."

He studied her for a long minute before sighing. "Alright. Why don't you just ask God where he is? I bet he'd know." He shrugged. Hinata grinned. "Great idea! Thanks!"

--

_**You want to know where Deidara is?**_ God repeated. Hinata nodded. "Uh-huh. I want to see him." She said. _**Why? **_He asked. Hinata shrugged a bit. "Well… why not?" she shyly looked to the ground, blushing. God chuckled. _**Well, I'll take you there. I don't know if he'll be in the same spot the next time you want to see him, so just come to me if you need to.**_ He said.

In a few minutes, Hinata and Sasori were standing over a forest. A yellow dot caught their eye and they turned toward it. It was Deidara alright, and he looked like he was running away from someone. Hinata gasped a little, gracefully floating down to meet him. She was worried.

"Hinata, wait!" Sasori called to her. She stopped and looked at him. "What?" She asked, slowly moving down again. "He's in the middle of a battle. We'd just distract him." He explained, grabbing her wrist. "B-But… We bothered God to get here… I don't want it to be for nothing…" Hinata glanced at Deidara and back to Sasori. "Well…" he thought for a second, not knowing what to say.

All of a sudden, someone else appeared out of the trees. It was a boy about Hinata's age with dark black hair. He had red eyes that seemed to see through anything, and he looked terribly familiar to Hinata.

"S-Sasuke!?" she yelled in disbelief. What was he doing fighting Deidara? "You know him?" Sasori asked. Hinata stared at Sasuke for a while before floating down to the ground to follow him. "Wait a minute… Hinata!" Sasori called after her.

_Why are they fighting? Where's Deidara? Oh man, this is all so weird now!_ Hinata thought. She found Deidara facing Sasuke in a clearing ahead of her. She was about to run out to call him, but an arm 

grabbed her and pinned her to a tree. "Shh! Deidara-sempai's concentrating!" Tobi shushed her, pressing a finger to the part of his mask that was supposed to be his mouth. Hinata looked at him and then to Deidara.

"Well, you're stronger than I thought." Deidara said haughtily, giving Sasuke a small smirk.

"Shut up. You were the one… who killed Hinata, weren't you?" Sasuke growled at him. Deidara frowned. It's not like he wanted to, right? "I thought so." Sasuke continued. Deidara glared at him. "I heard somewhere that you had dibs on killing this one guy… so I knew I could get to you through him."

"Oh Sasuke…" Hinata felt tears in the corners of her eyes. Her hands covered her mouth in late surprise. Sasori had caught up to them, leaning against another tree. He would be at Hinata's side comforting her, but Tobi was in the way.

Deidara saw the faint figure of Hinata behind Sasuke, and leaned a little to the side to get a better look. She was staring at Sasuke, and he could tell that she was almost crying. He grit his teeth. "What business do you have with me?" he asked. Sasori and Tobi came into view, and he stupidly kept his eyes on them. Sasuke turned around. "Is someone with you?" he asked in a threatening voice, his guard up and searching the trees. His eyes widened slightly when his eyes met with familiar clear lavender ones.

Hinata flinched, backing away behind the tree beside Tobi. "Did he see me?" she whispered to herself.

Sasuke shook his head, taking note that someone (Tobi) was there. "Don't change the subject." Deidara said firmly, cursing himself for giving away Tobi's position like that. Sasuke turned back to Deidara. "I came here for revenge." (Of course.) he growled, glaring.

Deidara could be less concerned about this. "Revenge for me killing Hinata?" he inquired, already knowing the answer. "She was my best childhood friend. And now I'll never see her again, all because one of my brother's stupid friends killed her!" Sasuke raised his voice. "I loved her! She would have been with me right now if it weren't for you!" (What is he _saying?_) Sasuke's arm flew to the side in anger. He heard a sharp gasp from behind him, but passed it off as the wind.

Hinata felt the tears flow freely down her cheeks. "Sasuke…" she whispered. "I'm sorry…"

Deidara was taken aback. He _loved_ Hinata? The thought pissed him off. "You think I didn't!?" he responded, reaching into his side pouch to get a clay bird ready. "You think that I didn't love her too!?" he stopped, realizing what he just said. Sasuke's eyes widened. "You bastard." He hissed, drawing his sword and pointing it at Deidara. "You have a very sick and twisted mind, you know that!?" he shouted, lunging towards Deidara at full speed. Deidara quickly dodged the swing Sasuke took at him and got out his explosive clay.

"D-Deidara!" Hinata screamed, Tobi covering her mouth immediately afterward. Both Deidara and Sasuke heard that, Sasuke more surprised to hear it than Deidara. "Hinata?" they both murmured under their breath.

"Hinata, you'll distract him!" Tobi scolded. "I-I can't just let them go like that! I have to do something!" Hinata protested, trying to get away from Tobi. It was surprising that she couldn't. Sasori went over to her, putting a hand on her wrist. She stopped to look at him with pleading eyes. He looked back, a small frown on his face. "Tobi…" he breathed. Tobi looked at him as well. "I think it's best that we leave for now." He felt Hinata start to wriggle again, so he tightened his grip on her. "No!" She managed.

"Hinata, come on!" Sasori yelled. She gasped a bit. "Neither one of us wants to see this! In fact, I don't think Deidara would like you to see this either. We have to _go._" He didn't mean to raise his voice at her.

Deidara was overhearing the conversation. He growled as he avoided another attack from Sasuke. He heard Hinata protest leaving even more, and heard Sasori talking her into leaving and… it was just so stressful. He didn't want Hinata to see him fight. He grabbed the blade of Sasuke's sword and held it there, ignoring the cuts it was giving him. "Hinata, just _GO!_" He shouted.

Hinata jumped slightly at her name. She looked at Deidara with a confused look. "Go! Just… Not now! I'll be okay!" he continued. Sasori nodded to him, taking Hinata by the arm and carrying her up to the sky.

"No! W-Wait! I… I-I've got to stay here!" Hinata screamed, reaching out for something to hold on to.

"Hinata…" Sasuke whispered as he watched her float up into the sky. "Hinata!" he shouted. Hinata looked at him. "Ah…" and in a moment she was gone.

-:-

Neji stormed into the classroom the next day, heading straight for TenTen's desk. She didn't seem surprised that he was angry. "Do you have it!?" he asked roughly, jutting his hand out to get back the razor he knew TenTen took last night. She looked at him with a bored expression. "Have what?" she wanted to see how much he wanted to get back to cutting himself at night. "That razor you took from my house last night." Neji said this in a lower tone so that not a lot of people would hear.

TenTen only stared at him. "Why do you want it back?" she asked, keeping the same bored tone. Neji growled a little. He was about to yell at her a lame excuse to have it back, but class was going to start soon and he wasn't ready yet. "I'll tell you later." He said harshly, taking the seat beside her.

It was around lunchtime that Neji decided to answer TenTen's question.

"So why do you want to keep it?" he asked. Close enough to an answer, anyway. "Because if I gave it back to you, then I would be a terrible friend!" TenTen almost shouted at him. "If I gave it back to you, then you'd be sitting in your room sawing your arm off! I don't want that!" Neji listened without changing his expression. "What's it to you what I do to my arm?" he asked. TenTen growled. "What the hell kind of question is that? Of _course_ I care what you do to your arm – what you do to yourself! I'm your friend!" She was surprised no one else was hearing their conversation.

Neji reached for her hand and led her out of the lunchroom. He ignored her protests as she tried to stop him. He stopped at a place where no one else was. Once again he held out his hand to receive his razor. 

"I know it's in your pocket." He said. TenTen shook her head. "I'm not giving it to you." She said, her hand covering her pocket. "Why not?" Neji asked. "Do I have to explain it again?" TenTen glared at him.

His hand reached out to touch her face. She blushed, staring at the ground. _What is he doing!?_ He tilted her head up to face his and slowly he leaned closer to her, their lips almost touching. She didn't notice Neji reaching into her pocket for the razor. His lips brushed against hers and he pulled away. TenTen gasped as he held up the razor for her to see. She was about to grab for it, but he swiped it away. "G-Give that back!" she shouted at him. "Why? It's mine." He said. TenTen frowned. She looked down to the floor, tears of worry in her eyes.

Neji pulled her face to his and kissed her. She was taken by surprise; the moment started and ended too quickly. "But…" he began, his face still close to hers. "…I'll try to stop. Since you want me to." For once in a long time, Neji smiled. TenTen stared at him for a while, memorizing the way he looked when he smiled. She tried to say something, but couldn't. without another word, Neji walked away, the small smile still on his face.

-:-

"Hinata!? Hinata, wait!" Sasuke growled and then glared at Deidara. "What happened to her!?" he asked angrily. Deidara sighed. He let go of the sword and swiftly dodged it, backing away. "She's gone." He said calmly. He looked at the deep gash in his hand. _That hand is out…_ he thought. "What do you mean 'she's gone'!?" Sasuke lunged toward him again, bringing his sword out to slice Deidara through the side.

"I mean, she's gone." Deidara repeated, jumping up. Sasuke cursed under his breath. "Gone where!?" Deidara sighed. "Back up to heaven, I guess. I don't know where spirits go after they visit." He shrugged. Sasuke didn't believe him. "So she's dead!" he shouted. "We've already established that, yes." Deidara was sitting on one of his clay birds (all of a sudden), leaning on his arm, bored. It made Sasuke feel belittled.

"You bastard! I'll kill you!" Deidara blew a strand of hair out of his face. "God, you're slow. I may be underestimating you like this, but _sheesh!_ I thought the whole point of you hunting me down was _because_ I killed Hinata…" a short pause followed, and in that time Deidara made a few clay birds to throw at Sasuke.

"Alright, well this talking has gone on long enough. Let's get started, shall we?" Deidara threw a row of the birds down, making them explode the second they got close enough to Sasuke. In the smoke he disappeared. Deidara searched the clearing for Sasuke, but couldn't find him. Suddenly he sensed someone behind him and moved to the side, his cheek receiving a small graze as Sasuke passed him with his sword. On reflex, he punched Sasuke down to the ground.

"You said you loved Hinata, right?" Deidara asked. "What's it matter now?" Sasuke spat, glaring. "What do you love about her?" Deidara looked innocently at Sasuke (as far as innocent goes for Deidara). Sasuke stared at him, confused. "What do I love about her?" he repeated. Deidara nodded. "… I…" he 

stayed silent. "…I've never really thought about that." He admitted, a few lines of red on his cheeks. Deidara scoffed. "Why? What do you love about her?" Sasuke asked, his ego somewhat bruised.

Deidara smirked. "I don't know." He said confidently. Sasuke looked at him with a puzzled look. He sat on the ground with a loud 'thud' and stuck his sword in the ground. "Explain." He didn't like being confused. It meant he didn't know something. Deidara lowered the bird so that it was hovering over the ground. "Well, first of all – no, that's not a good way to start." The bird circled around Sasuke, and Deidara stood up, spreading his arms out. He was pretending to fly.

Deep in thought, Deidara closed his eyes in concentration. Sasuke just stared ahead, a bored expression on his face. This wasn't how he expected his revenge to be. "Before you begin, what is your friend doing back there?" he pointed to the tree Tobi was hiding behind. Deidara looked toward the tree. "Tobi, if you want, you can come out." He waited patiently for a minute. "Huh. He must be sleeping. Well, while he does that, I think I've got the perfect explanation of my love for Hinata." Sasuke glanced at Deidara.

"Sure, sure. But promise me something;" he said.

"And what would that be, Sasuke Uchiha?" Deidara responded.

"After you explain, we fight." Sasuke smirked confidently at him. Deidara grinned. "Alright."

He paused, taking a deep breath. "…Maybe it's because… Hinata was always so kind and patient… she was the thing – no, the person I looked forward to seeing every day. I lived for her smiling face…" he trailed off, the pain of the memories catching up to him. "If you lived for her smile… then why did you kill her?" Sasuke asked. Deidara frowned. "I… It was… It was an order. From the leader of my organization. I didn't want to… but… he said that he'd send me to kill her entire family instead if I refused… I don't know why I did it even by those standards…" he closed his eyes in thought.

He heard Sasuke laugh a bit. "I thought an Akatsuki had no morals. No single ounce of kindness in them whatsoever." Deidara scoffed. "What do you call all those times I was nice at school, huh!?" he asked, annoyed. "An act." Ah, touché.

Deidara stretched a little. "Well, I think we've done enough talking. Why don't we get to that fight, hm?" Sasuke was already on his feet. "Yeah."

-:-

"…Hinata…?" Sasori called her name softly.

No response.

"…I said I was sorry…"

Still no response.

"I hope you understand why I had to pull you out of there."

Her silence was beginning to scare him.

"I mean, neither one of us wanted to see him fight. Especially him; he didn't want you to see him get hurt… or hurt another person. Speaking of that other person, who was that 'Sasuke' guy—"

"You just don't get it, do you!?" Hinata yelled at him. Sasori stayed silent this time. "Deidara… Sasuke… they're both fighting because of me! I'm the reason that they're hurting each other like that! You heard him – Sasuke had to _kill_ someone just to get to Deidara! That's… That's just not right!" she started crying. Sasori sat beside her, an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm… Sorry. I never realized…" he rested his head on hers. "I need to see him again… I need to stop them. I don't want Deidara _or_ Sasuke to die!" she clenched her hands into fists. Then, after a few seconds she let go.

"It's all my fault…"

Sasori patted her head to get her attention. Confused by the playful act, Hinata looked to him with tears in her eyes. "It's not your fault! Like Deidara said, it's just a fight between men. They won't go that far." He knew he couldn't be sure of that. He barely knew Sasuke. But he knew Deidara inside and out. And possibly beyond. And he knew that Deidara wouldn't get himself killed – especially by someone younger than him." For some reason, this calmed Hinata down a bit. She didn't even know why; the sound of Sasori's soothing voice helped a bunch, though.

"Sasori… thanks." Hinata smiled at him, wiping her tears away. Sasori smiled back, kissing her head. They had a comfortable silence for a while.

"Hey, Hinata?" Sasori said finally.

"Hm?"

"…Have you figured out what you had to say to Deidara yet?"

Hinata thought for a second. "…Not really. How about you?" Sasori paused. "I think I know. It's kinda stupid, but it's all I've got." He shrugged. Hinata stared at him in disbelief. This was another thing to think about: If Sasori told Deidara the thing he needed to before she did, would he pass on to real heaven without her? If he does, what would she do? What would happen if she didn't remember in time? So many worries…

"I see… do you want to tell me?" Hinata asked. Sasori laughed at the idea. "Sure. I forgot to tell him that the sock he's missing is behind the dryer. Simple, but that's his favorite pair. It was such a trivial thing; I never thought it would be the only thing keeping me from passing on." He leaned against the wall and sighed. "I hope you remember what you wanted to tell him soon. I think he needs to hear what you have to say more than about a lost sock." Hinata paused to think. "Alright."

-:-

_What do I want to tell Deidara?_ Hinata asked herself. For the past hour she's been sitting there, thinking, under the soft gaze of Sasori. He was sitting across from her in a chair while she lay on her side staring blankly back at him. He had a serious look on his face, almost as if he thought his thinking would help her in the slightest. She closed her eyes, mentally sighing. _Thank you, but I don't know if it works that way…_

Hinata shifted slightly. "Is my staring making you uncomfortable?" Sasori asked her suddenly, moving so that he was sitting like L from Death Note. She shook her head. "I don't mind…" she turned so that she was facing away from him, her long hair a blanket over the bed. "Okay." Sasori stayed where he was, studying her actions carefully. He absently started running his thumb over his lips, strangely similar to L from Death Note again. When he caught himself doing that, he laughed to himself. It was easier to think in this position.

…_Why did he kill me? Maybe I'm looking for an answer, not what I thought I wanted… wanted… what did I want from him before he killed me? We were going on a date the night he did, right? I remember hoping for something… like… I was hoping he'd say 'I love—_

She felt Sasori stroke her arm gently. "…Are you alright?" he asked in a soft voice. Hinata blushed. "… I don't know…" she said awkwardly. "Sorry… did I mess up your train of thought?" Sasori turned her on her back and looked at her worriedly. "Kinda… but it's okay… I wasn't really getting anywhere with it anyway." Hinata shrugged. _Speaking of getting anywhere, what was I thinking about again?_ _Something about… Ugh, it's tiring to think again. I wanna sleep…_

Sasori gripped her arm. She stared at him as a troubled look made its way onto his features. "…Hinata." He leaned towards her, their noses almost touching. "What are your true feelings for Deidara?" he asked. Hinata tried her best to avoid eye contact. Though this was proven to be a difficult task, given the small distance between their faces. "M-My… M-My f-feelings?" she stammered, feeling her face heat up.

Sasori waited patiently for an answer. "Why… Wh-Why do you ask?" Hinata managed, relief filling her when he backed away a bit. He looked a little flushed. "I… I wanted to help you… maybe if you admitted your true feelings for him, then maybe… you'd know what to say to him." She didn't know why, but he looked the teensiest bit embarrassed. He looked… cute. She couldn't help but giggle a bit. He looked at her, confused. "I'm glad you want to help me, Sasori." She smiled at him. He looked pleased with himself.

"But… I've gotta ask… what are your feelings for me? I haven't got a straight answer from you yet." Sasori rested his head in his palms, grinning. Hinata blushed again. "My feelings for you?" she repeated. He only nodded. "Where do you want me to begin?" she asked, laughing. Sasori paused to think, then smiled.

"I love you."

Hinata gasped slightly. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. "What's your response?" Sasori asked. Hinata looked downward. "U-Um…" she paused. Sasori waited patiently for her answer. "I…" she pressed her lips together in thought. "I-I… I'm… I-I'm sorry!" she almost shouted. Sasori nodded as if he expected that to happen. "Sasori… I-I'm glad that you… l-love me… but… but I'm sorry that I can't return your feelings! I… I think I love someone else…" she turned to him, sitting up by now. "And that person would be…?" Sasori motioned for her to finish his statement.

"I… I-I love…" the name 'Deidara' was at the tip of her tongue…

But suddenly she fainted under the pressure.

"Hinata? Hinata!" Sasori didn't expect that.

-:-

Sorry for the long wait… it's just a personal standard of mine to make every chapter at least nine pages or more -.- otherwise it's not a full chapter. And sorry if it doesn't make sense…


	6. Final: A Simple Yes Will Do

I know I haven't told you guys prior to now, but this is the last chapter. Thanks to all who read this… and sorry for the terribly long hiatus… so yeah. Thanks to all who read and reviewed. Fairy Tale should be next after I finish Obsession.

-:-

Deidara cursed under his breath. He was almost sure that Tobi had wandered off somewhere while the fight began. Now he had to keep three things on his mind; The fight, Hinata, and the now-missing Tobi. _God, can't that idiot stay in one place for over an hour!?_ He quickly made a clay bird and threw it into the air, making it explode to serve as a distraction. He had no idea where Sasuke was, but he was sure that he wasn't far.

"What the –!?" Sasuke protected his head with his arm and looked toward the place where the explosion came from and cursed when he felt cold metal press against his neck. "How long have we been at this, a day?" Deidara sighed in a bored tone. "I'm hungry – I hope Tobi went out to get McDonald's or something…" Sasuke growled. "Why…" he said in a low tone.

"Why? I thought I said – I'm hungry—" Deidara was cut off by Sasuke's sudden yell. "No! Why don't you just end it here and now!?" Deidara shrugged. "You came here for revenge, right? I just thought you'd try a little harder if you really wanted it, you know?" he backed away a bit and jumped into the nearest tree, disappearing from sight. Sasuke turned around, looking for him.

Deidara caught a glimpse of where the sun was. It was almost noon, he thought. He was getting really hungry. It wasn't healthy to be fighting and hungry. He sighed quietly. _Tobi, if you're out there, I'd like a Big Mac and large fries._

-:-

Hinata blinked and sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Ah, you're awake. I'm glad." Sasori's voice came from beside her. He looked like he just woke up as well. Hinata yawned, trying to remember what happened before she 'fell asleep'. She was in the middle of an important conversation, as she recalled. An important conversation… Hinata squeaked, turning red with embarrassment. "S-Sasori!" she started. Sasori stared at her. "Hm?" he was slightly amused at her flustered look.

"D-D-Did I f-faint on you while we were t-talking!?" she stammered, a frantically apologetic look on her face. Sasori stared at her for a little longer before smiling. "Yeah, but that's okay. We weren't talking about anything important." He waved a hand dismissively in the air. "B-But… it was terribly rude of me! I'm sorry!" Hinata put a hand over his. "Have you figured out what you have to say to Deidara yet?" he asked.

Hinata looked downward. "No… No I haven't…" she sounded sad. "Okay. I hope you find out soon." Sasori kissed her cheek. "Yeah… Thanks…" Sasori studied her for a few minutes. She looked down, no doubt about that, her cheeks were tinted pink, and her eyes had a distant look in them. She was thinking again.

… _Whenever Sasori's around… I can't think straight… he's like a giant reset button on my brain… it's just so… overwhelming…_

Sasori stood up, kissing her head. "Well… why don't we go see what Deidara's doing right now, hm?" he offered his hand to her, and she took it. "I hope he's alright." Hinata said as they transferred themselves to ask God where he was (he still could've moved from where he was, you know. Deidara, I mean.)

_**No, he hasn't moved the battle from where you last saw him. He's still looking forward to seeing you again, Hinata. He thought ahead and decided to stay put until he saw you. **_God told them. Hinata blushed. "He… still wants to see me? Even when he's supposed to be fighting… and focused on the battle…" she felt a little happy and a little worried at the same time. _**Now, I warn you, he's not in the best condition to be in, so don't be surprised when you see him, alright? I'm sure Sasori knows what I mean.**_ God nodded to Sasori. He nodded back. _He's badly hurt, isn't he?_ He thought, glancing at Hinata.

_**So now, I'll take you guys to where he is. **_

In a few seconds Sasori and Hinata were in the same clearing as they were yesterday. Hinata saw Sasuke in the center of it, looking around for Deidara. "Where's Deidara?" she asked Sasori. "He's hiding from him. Either he's that badly wounded or…" he trailed off. "'Or'?" Hinata looked at him. "…He's hungry." Hinata stared at him as he nodded. "He's probably hungry." He said to himself.

Hinata slowly floated towards the tree where she saw Deidara. He seemed to be sleeping in the tree. Sasori shook his head. "Honestly, Deidara… falling asleep in the middle of a battle…" he leaned close to Deidara's face, then suddenly drew back and head-butted Deidara into the tree. "WAKE UP, YOU IDIOT!!" he yelled. Hinata jumped in surprise, watching as Deidara's head was pounded into the tree. Deidara opened his eyes and rubbed the sore spot behind his head. "Owie…" he said a little too loudly.

Sasuke heard him and immediately threw a kunai in the direction of the sound. It whizzed through Hinata and hit the tree right beside Deidara's head. "Eep." He quickly got out of the tree and landed on the ground. "Hinata! I'll talk to you in a little bit, okay?" Deidara looked back up to the tree and grinned at Hinata. She waved timidly at him. "Get back to the battle, dumbass!" Sasori shouted at him. Deidara huffed, turning back to Sasuke.

"Is Hinata in that tree?" he asked in a low voice. Deidara nodded, yawning a bit. "Yeah. Can't keep a woman waiting, so can we speed this up a bit?" he reached into his pouch full of clay and made a clay bird. "Alrighty, I'll start." He threw the clay bird at Sasuke. It exploded.

-:-

Neji walked home, a strange feeling filling his chest. He felt… happy. Just a little, but it was a start. It felt weird to smile wide, so he kept a small one in his pocket. He opened the door to the house and walked into the kitchen, hoping for an after school snack.

"Hey, mom." He greeted, sitting at the table. "Hello, Neji. How was schoo—" Neji jumped a little when he heard a pan drop from Mrs. Hyuga's hands. "Mom?" Neji moved to pick up the fallen pan and put it 

back onto the stove. He noticed his mother had tears in her eyes. "Mom!?" Neji put a hand on her shoulder as she began to cry. "Neji… Oh, Neji! I can't believe it!" she sobbed, hugging him tightly. He turned a light pink, slowly hugging her back. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Mrs. Hyuga wiped her eyes and held Neji's hands tightly. "Neji, dear, you're smiling!" she exclaimed happily. Neji's smile grew a little more. It felt good to make his mother happy like that. "Oh, Neji!" she hugged him tightly again. "It's been so long since I've seen you smile! I'm so… I'm so glad!" Hiashi walked into the kitchen, wondering what all the commotion was about. Neji noticed him and smiled. Surprised, he smiled in return. "It's great to have you back, son." He said softly, moving to bring his son into a tight hug.

--

"He kissed you?" Rock Lee asked. TenTen nodded, blushing a little. "And… H-He smiled a little, too. And he took the razor from my pocket!" she huffed at that part. Lee laughed a bit. "Wow. That's unexpected. Wish I could've seen that." There was a short pause. "Do you like him?" he asked. TenTen was about to say no, but stopped herself. "I… Yeah. I guess." She smiled at the thought. "That's cool. When're you two gonna hook up then?"

TenTen punched Lee in the gut.

-:-

Hinata picked the worst time to get lost in her thoughts. While she was watching Deidara fight Sasuke, she realized that he was getting tired – and quickly, too. There was a strong chance that Sasuke might win. But… if Deidara lost, then that would mean that Sasuke killed him. And she didn't want that. She didn't want them fighting at all. What was a girl to do?

"Hinata." Sasori's voice brought her out of her thoughts, probably to be forgotten about later. "Hm?" she looked at him. "I think… Deidara's going to lose the fight." He looked at Deidara and then back to Hinata. "What makes you think that?" she asked, watching Deidara carefully. The way he walked was obvious. The multiple cuts and the exhaustion on his face was a dead giveaway as well. "Soon… he's going to get desperate… and then he'll use _that_ technique just to win."

'_That' technique? What is he talking about?_ Hinata stared at him. "'That'?" Sasori looked like he didn't want to answer. Like what he was going to say next would scare her. And it would. "You know how he uses those clay birds as bombs to attack?" he started. Hinata nodded. "Well… he told me about this once – he said that when he absolutely needed to, he'd eat the clay and use himself as the bomb. He told me that the explosion would kill everything within a ten kilometer radius of where he was. It was powerful, and he'd be sure that his opponent couldn't escape."

Hinata gasped. "But… W-Wouldn't that mean…" she stared at him with worry in her eyes. Sasori nodded. "If there's anything he hates more than being hungry, it's losing. He'd do anything just to ensure a victory."Hinata watched Deidara more closely now, thinking even harder than before on what she needed to say to him. If what Sasori told her was true, then he'd die. And that would mean that she'd never be able to make him hear what she had to say.

She felt Sasori grab her arm. "I'll go ahead, okay?" he said suddenly. "Huh?" Hinata was pulled into a short kiss before she saw Sasori go down to Deidara. "What are you…?" she followed him.

Deidara was currently blocking Sasuke's sword with a kunai. He looked like he was having a hard time, too.

"Deidara." Sasori called. "Kinda busy… what is it!?" Deidara growled. "You remember that sock you lost a few weeks back?" Deidara glared at him from the corner of his eye. "Well…"

Hinata realized what Sasori was going to do. He was going to tell Deidara what he had to say and pass on before she did. "Ah… W-Wait…" she tried saying. But it was no use. Something was holding her voice back. Somehow, she knew that after Sasori told Deidara, he'd pass on before her, and she'd be alone.

"It's behind the dryer."

"Wait!" Hinata finally managed to say. But it was already too late. Sasori turned around and smiled at her. "S-Sasori!" she reached for him, but her hand sifted through him. He started floating up to the sky while Hinata stayed down below. "I'll see you in heaven, okay, Hinata?" he waved to her briefly before looking up towards where he was heading to.

"Wait…" Hinata stared after him, tears in her eyes. Sasori disappeared from sight.

Deidara was looking upward, too. "Where did he…?" his attention was back on Sasuke when he felt him apply more pressure to the sword. "Deidara…" Hinata looked worriedly at him. "Hinata, don't you have to find Sasori or something?" Deidara glanced at her for a split second before jumping back from Sasuke. Though he disliked not seeing her, she had to leave him to the fight. "I-I can't. He… He left." Hinata felt weird using the term 'pass on' suddenly. "Hinata, I'm a little busy. Could you just… go somewhere else for an hour or so? Please?" he looked at her with a stern look. "But…" Hinata started to protest. "_Please_. Hinata." Now his look was more of a glare.

Hinata reluctantly swayed towards the trees. "Don't die." She whispered before disappearing into the woods.

-:-

Sasori sighed. He looked up at the bright light and then back down to Earth. From where he was, he could see the Akatsuki base a few miles away from where Deidara was fighting. He was going to miss the puppets he made there. His eyes drifted towards the town of Sunagakure, which was quite a long distance from where he was, but still visible. He'd miss his hometown, too. Then his eyes settled on the bright light once again.

"I'm going to miss everything." He said to himself. "I'm going to miss… Hinata." Slowly he began to walk into the light and closed his eyes.

As he walked, a calming feeling went over him. _This feels… nice._ He decided. Then, he thought, _I'll find Hinata here soon. Very soon._

-:-

Hinata stayed in a tree near the clearing, crying to herself. Sasori had passed on without her, and now she felt terribly lonely. She was the only dead person she knew now. Well, besides her grandmother, but she hasn't seen her at all. Her thoughts wandered to Sasuke. He said he loved her. _I'm sorry, Sasuke… I didn't realize until now…_ and now was too late. She felt bad that Sasuke had to go through the death of someone he loved – though, his entire family was a huge sword through his gut, but losing someone he's had a crush on? To her, that would be absolutely unbearable.

_And Deidara… he's about willing to kill himself to get a victory in a battle… a battle that she knew was her fault…_ "Oh…" Hinata rubbed her eyes. _But now… now that Sasori passed on, he wasn't there to restart her brain every time she thought of something. So now she could think of one thing and continue to think about it for as long as she could. _Hinata cheered herself up with this. She decided to think hard about what she wanted to say to Deidara – before it was too late.

_Alright… so… what have I been regretting while I was alive? _She knew many things were under that category. So she narrowed it down to what she regretted that involved Deidara, and things would narrow down on their own.

…_I took that apple from him at lunch one time… he got mad at poor Naruto for no reason… _

_I accidentally punched him one time in PE and didn't get a chance to say sorry… _

_I feel bad for calling him a dummy… even though they're one of my favorite lollipops… _(AN: Lol make sex joke right now)

_Maybe I _should've_ listened to him while he was reading his report on his family… even though it was a bull-faced lie._

_I should've treated him better… I should've let him borrow my manga when he asked – and drew the drawings he requested from me ages ago – I should've been a better person to him more than anyone else!_

_I was supposed to be his best friend! I needed to be there for him when he needed me! I wanted to be at his side even if he _didn't_ need me! I wanted to be by his side because… because…!_

"I _love_ him!" she gasped. _That_ was the thing she wanted – no, _needed_ to tell him! At the date he took her on before he killed her… what she wanted to say all along was 'I love you, Deidara!!'. When he interrogated her about what guy she liked in the class she should have said 'I like you most of all!' because she really, truly did! It seemed so obvious now that she realized!

She didn't care if he didn't like her back! He needed to _know!_

"D-Deidara—!" Hinata inhaled.

"H… Hinata?" someone croaked from behind her. She gasped and turned, leaning to look on the other side of the tree. Deidara was sitting there, clutching a huge wound in his stomach. Hinata was at his side at once, trying to figure out what to do. "I… I underestimated him… that Sasuke kid…" Deidara made a sound similar to a laugh. "Do you know how awful clay tastes? Ugh, disgusting. But… I've gotta win… I have to…" he continued. Hinata put her hand over his; ignoring the fact that she couldn't really touch him. He looked at her and noticed her worried face. He smiled a little.

"Deidara… I need to tell you something." Hinata said, her voice cracking a little. She knew Deidara was going to die soon, and she was thankful that she knew what she wanted to tell him in time, even if it was a few seconds before too late.

"Well… first of all… I was the one who took your apple at lunch that one time." She blushed a little from embarrassment. Deidara chuckled softly. "And… I'm sorry I didn't apologize to you when I punched you in PE that other time." She continued. "Didn't feel a thing…" Deidara assured her. "Also, I feel bad for calling you a dummy a few months back… though, dummies are my favorite kind of lollipop…" Hinata began to laugh a little at that. But her face turned serious again. "I should have listened to you better… I should have been nicer to you instead of everyone else. I should have drawn those drawings you wanted me to… I should have been a better friend." Deidara was about to protest, but stopped when he saw a tear escape her eye. "But most of all… the thing I regret telling you the most is…" Hinata raised her head to look at him.

"I love you, Deidara." She carefully moved his hand up to touch her face. "I love you so much. I'm sorry… I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you." She sobbed. Deidara summed up all his strength to cup her face. "I'm sorry I didn't say it first." He smiled at her. "I love you too, Hinata." Hinata smiled at him through her tears.

Deidara heard Sasuke approaching, and his face turned back to serious. "Hinata. I'm going to see you soon. I'm gonna win this fight, even if it kills me." He looked at Hinata. "N-No… Y-You can't… don't…" she whispered. "Over winning, I want to be able to touch you… hug you, kiss you… and the only way I can do that is…" Hinata shook her head. "You're in bad enough conditions as it is! Live as long as your beating heart lets you!" Deidara leaned up and gently pecked her lips. "I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do." He said finally, performing the hand seal that made his clay explode.

"Katsu."

-:-

Deidara saw a bright light when he woke up. He immediately walked toward it. He stopped when a deep booming voice came from above him.

_**Deidara.**_

Thinking that it would be polite to respond, Deidara said, "Uh… Yes?"__

_**Welcome. I am God…**_

-:-

"_Hello?_"

"Hey, TenTen?"

"_Neji? Hey, what's up?_"

"I was just wondering…"

"_Hm?_"

"Do you want to go out sometime? Like… I don't know, this Saturday or something?"

"_Huh… I don't know…_"

"…"

"_I'm kidding! Of course I would!_"

"That's great. I'll see you later."

"_Yeah._"

"Oh, and TenTen?"

"_Uh-huh?_"

"I love you."

"… _I love you too, Neji._"

-chuckle- "Alright. Bye."

"_B-Bye._"

-:-

After formally apologizing for the many sins he had committed while he was alive (and changing into a suit so that he wouldn't have to wear those tattered and torn battle clothes), Deidara was let into Heaven. At once he started looking for Hinata. He asked God for help, and he told her to look in the park. Deidara nodded. _…But… where's the park?_

_**Just keep going straight. You'll find it. You'll find her.**_ God responded. Deidara grinned, running even faster than he was before until he saw a sign that said 'Park' in front of a dark green gate. He tore through the gate, and ran to the fountain in the middle. He looked around the not-so-crowded square until finally his gaze settled on a familiar blue-haired girl sitting at a bench on the other side of the fountain. She was reading.

"Hinata…" he breathed. Quickly, he ran toward her. She didn't notice him until he closed the book for her and pulled her to stand up. Surprised, she gasped. "Hinata." Deidara grinned at her. "Deidara… Deidara!" Hinata squealed as realization hit her. Her arms wrapped around him tightly. He couldn't contain his excitement, so he started twirling her around. "I can't believe I'm here right now!!" he shouted. Hinata laughed.

Finally he stopped twirling her around. He stared into her eyes and she stared back. "You made it…" she whispered, smiling. She rested her head on his chest, but he tilted her head up to look at him. He leaned down and kissed her. He was glad he could actually feel it this time. When they parted, he kept her face close to his. "I love you." He whispered, his lips meeting hers again. "I love you, too." Hinata managed in between kisses. She giggled as he moved to her cheek and trailed to her ear. He laughed a little too.

They heard a sound behind them, so they turned around.

"Hey." Sasori waved to them, smiling. "Sasori!" Deidara and Hinata exclaimed in surprise. "You two are already getting it on, aren't you? At least get a room before that, alright?" Sasori teased, laughing at their blushing faces. "I'm kidding." He looked at their still blushing faces and felt worried for a second. "Uh… I'm sorry?" he stayed silent for a minute.

"SO! Anyway, where are you staying, Hinata? Maybe you live close to me." Sasori changed the subject awkwardly. Hinata opened up first. "Oh, I don't live all that far from here. One block from here, actually. I'll take you guys there, if you want." She offered, trying to walk with Deidara still clinging to her. They arrived there pretty quickly, and it was when Hinata opened the door that Deidara finally let go of her.

It was a small house, but still enough to fit at least two or three people. Hinata's iPod was playing from speakers from the living room, and the light in the hallway was on. "So… do you like it?" Hinata asked, closing the door behind them. Deidara nodded in approval. "I'm _so_ moving in with you." He said. Hinata giggled. "How about you, Sasori?" she asked. "As much as I'd love to live here, I'm already living with my grandma over on the other side of the block." Sasori sighed. "Oh well." He heard Deidara snicker behind him. "The only reason I'm not beating you up right now is because I don't want to go to Hell." Sasori glared at him.

The three spent time talking to each other in the living room, laughing and joking around until nightfall in heaven came. Sasori headed back home, leaving Deidara and Hinata all alone.

"Hinata…?" Deidara started. "Hm?" Hinata looked at him, smiling a little. "I'm really sorry that I killed you." He said softly, holding her hand. "Are we back to that again?" Hinata asked, scooting closer to him on the couch. Deidara bit his lower lip. He felt that he made it awkward between them for bringing it up again. "I just don't think I've really apologized. And I don't really feel like I've been forgiven, either." He looked at her with a serious look. She pouted. "Of course I forgive you! How could you ever think differently?" she asked. Deidara looked sad for a second before returning to serious. He stared at her for a long while until she spoke.

"You know…" she started. His look softened a bit. "I always thought that even Heaven wasn't perfect. You want to know why?" she asked, taking his hand and studying it idly. Deidara nodded. "Well… it was because… the people I loved wouldn't be there with me." She pressed her lips together and looked at him. "But… somewhere in the back of my mind… it told me that I didn't want my loved ones in heaven yet… because it would mean that they had died…" her fingers interlaced with his. "But now I'm having second thoughts about that. Having someone you love with you in Heaven… isn't all that bad." Deidara's other hand found hers; he leaned closer to her. She kept leaning back, teasing him.

"I'm glad you think that way. The only reason I did that last move versus Sasuke was because of you. I wanted to be able to touch you, even just for a second before I went to Hell." He kept leaning to her until she was completely lying down on the couch. "But God had mercy on me… and let me spend the rest of my afterlife with you. And now I'm here, telling you this, holding your hand." He pressed her hand against his cheek. "And you've never felt softer." He kissed her hand and trailed down her arm until he reached her lips.

"I can't believe I've never kissed you when you were alive." He sighed, his lips brushing against her neck. "We almost did…" Hinata said, her hand feeling over his chest. "When?" Deidara asked, pulling away to look at her. "At that one dance… the one after you asked me what guy I liked in class… it was a slow song, and we got closer like this…" Hinata leaned up to him until their lips were almost touching. Deidara was about to kiss her, but she leaned away just before he did. "…but the song ended too soon. And we pulled away blushing like crazy. I could see you from across the room when you walked away." Hinata giggled.

"We can slow dance on the couch…" Deidara offered huskily, smirking. "But I'm afraid it wouldn't be called dancing." His breath tickled her ear. She shivered a little. "Maybe later. When I find an outfit that's easier to move in." Hinata laughed at his pouty look. "Hey, at least later means that we'll get to it eventually." She shrugged. Deidara sighed. "Fine…" The two stayed in that position until they eventually fell asleep.

-:-

Epilogue: A Simple Yes Would Do

"_You may now kiss the bride…"_ _the priest said, closing the book he was holding. Neji leaned towards TenTen and gently pecked her on the lips. After, cheering and clapping was heard, and the two smiled as the many cameras started taking pictures of them. _

Hinata sighed happily. "I'm so happy for you, Neji!" she said to the TV she was watching. Deidara was sitting beside her, his arm around her. "Took him long enough." He said. Hinata giggled, leaning on Deidara's shoulder. He looked at her and kissed her head. "Hey… do you know if you can get married here in heaven?" he asked, trying to sound as calm as possible. Fortunately, Hinata didn't get the hint. "I 

don't know… why? You know someone who wants to get married here?" she asked, looking up at him. Deidara laughed at her obliviousness.

"I wanna marry _you_, silly." He said, kissing her head. Hinata blushed. "W-Well… I g-guess you can… I-I mean… It _is_ Heaven…" she tried her best to sound calm. But on the inside, her heart was pounding out of her chest. "U-Um… Oh…" she covered her face from embarrassment. "D-Do you have a ring?" she asked, looking at him through her fingers. Deidara stiffened for a second. Apparently he didn't. But he suddenly felt something appear in his hand. He opened his hand to reveal a small velvet box; he smiled, looking up.

"Actually… Yes." He held out the ring for Hinata to see. She gasped, her hands moving over her heart to try to get it to calm down. She knew it was useless. "Wh-When did you –" she was interrupted when Deidara kissed her. "Will you marry me?" he asked, smiling at her bashful face. He waited patiently for her answer, watching with an amused look as she thought about her answer with many facial expressions. Finally she decided to stay at embarrassed. She took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. "I do."

Deidara stared at her. _'Will you marry me?' 'I do'?_ he started giggling uncontrollably. Hinata hit him gently. "That was a mess-up! Ask me again!" she told him. Deidara nodded, a huge grin on his face.

"Will you marry me?"

"S-Sure!!"

Her urgency made him laugh again. "Ooh! Ask me again!" she ordered him. His grin was as wide as ever.

"Will you marry me?"

"O-Okay!"

He was almost busting his gut trying not to laugh. Hinata could see that. "I'm sorry! Ask me again!" she was searching for the right reaction to this.

"Will you be my Queen, Princess Hinata?" he said this in such a charming voice that Hinata fainted. And then, Deidara laughed at her reaction once again.

When she woke up Deidara was on top of her on the bed. "Sorry… did I go too far with that Princess Hinata joke?" he asked apologetically, looking worriedly at her. Hinata blushed. "N-No! I-I… I actually liked it… it's just that… I'm not used to that kind of treatment, you know?" she laughed a little, looking away from awkwardness. He moved her head so that she was looking straight at him. His serious look melted into a playful smile.

"A simple 'Yes' will do." Deidara said. Hinata blushed again, this time a darker shade of red. "Now, Will you marry me?" he asked. Hinata opened her mouth to say something, but the words were late to come out. But when they did, they came out in the cutest version of her voice that Deidara had ever heard. "…Yes."

"Okay. Yes was all I wanted to hear." He kissed her passionately, his arms wrapping around her, crushing her to his body. "I love you, Deidara." She whispered when they parted. "I love you, too."

-:-

In case you haven't noticed… the Epilogue was a few years later.

And… I'm sorry that all I have to say is 'I'm sorry' for everything that I have to say 'I'm sorry' for. So I'll make a list:

I'm sorry that…

-:- I had such a long Hiatus on this story  
-:- The updates I put up probably didn't make sense  
-:- I didn't directly put in SasuHina or Grandma Chiyo  
-:- I didn't put much back plot on Sasori  
-:- or Deidara  
-:- Or the Hyugas  
-:- And TenTen and Rock Lee  
-:- And that angel God was talking to about Hinata's love story.  
-:- And I'm sorry that I couldn't make the story longer.

So now that _that's_ out of the way… thanks to all who read and to all who reviewed! Those reviews put food on the table, you know! (lol not really) so thank you times infinity for reading my story!


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